The Dark Brilliance
by XelFan12
Summary: A story of true darkness, and of the most evil, chaotic creature of all. Its mercilessness holds no bounds; will anything the Slayers do be able to stop it? Rated PG-13 for horror and language in later chapters (Chapter 9 is finally up!)
1. Prologue

The Dark Brilliance  
Prologue  
  
In the beginning, there had been nothing. Even chaos was unborn, and their were no paradises of good, nor cages of darkness. No gods kept order to help the living, and no demons tortured the dead for their evil deeds in life. All of existence was an empty barrenness, like an ever-boring hole into the depths of eternity.  
  
Some ask what chaos is. And some wonder if chaos and nothingness are the same.   
  
Chaos is not entirely destruction, though it is impossible to put into true words. It is both the building blocks, and the wrecking ball, of the structure of creation itself. It is what life, emotions, and all that is "real" comes from, and it is what that reality will eventually return to, no matter how hard life tries to stop it. True, it can be darkness, but it can be much, much more...  
  
Nothingness is different. It is believed that all had evolved from chaos, and that all will return to chaos, though chaos itself cannot be seen; only the destruction it brings. However, long before chaos, before the very depths of time had even started to glow, and far before the knowledge of even the Mother of All Things, the void of emptyness had existed. It cannot even truly be called a void, for a void sometimes has shape and form. If nothingness is truly a void, then it has swallowed itself, and all traces of it. And after creation, and then after chaos, nothingness would appear again, or rather, be exposed, countless aeons after all life had been wiped off.  
  
The nothingness gave birth to chaos, and the Lord of Nightmares came into being to take Her place as the guardian of this force. She took chaos into her hands, and started creation. She shaped the four worlds, along with many others. She made the Dark Golden Sea of Chaos. And She balanced the worlds, putting all of her knowledge into making them right, until it eventually evolved into the Slayers world of present times. She could have been the Supreme Ruler of all, and commanded her creations to serve her, but She did not. Wise and fair, though She had no true form, the Lord of Nightmares believed, if believing was not beyond Her, that keeping balance so that life and competition would thrive was the most important thing she could give. And could keep.  
  
But as this period of miracles and balance took place, something else was forming. Something horrible. Something far, far stronger than should be allowed to exist in this universe, or any other. Nothing else formed of chaos or creation knew of Its existence, including the Lord of Nightmares. This was just as well, or creation would have slain itself, instead of facing the being's awful wrath. Chaos was Its plaything as well, and It could create, just like the Mother of All Things, but It could also destroy, utterly and completely. And that was what It wished. It was a dark being, but far beyond the purest, evilest, pitch-black, and exponentially surpassing all other sin that had ever existed. It was something that would cause grown men to wake up screaming in the night, and would produce insanity, absolute fear, and desperate begs for mercy. But It was not something not would listen to mercy. It would rip Its terrified victim apart, piece by piece, as the victim screamed and begged for death, the victim's voice echoing painfully and endlessly among the cloth of nightmares, and It would laugh and laugh and laugh...  
  
And this ignored force bided Its time. For all as the countless ages wore on, It grew much stronger; It was feeding all the time. One day, It would release Itself, when the time was right. It had watched with amusement Its favorite world, that of Lina Inverse, as Rezo and Copy Rezo were destroyed. Its dark laughter rang through chaos as the Demon Dragon King was destroyed, and Hellmaster Phibrizzo met his death at the hands of the fool, who believed that She was the Mother of All Things. And then It had laughed outright at the fusion of Darkstar, Volpheed, and Valgaav, and at their pathetic display of "perfection". The strength of the six main "warriors" in the battle had been barely enough to win, and It had grown stronger as It watched the battle, feeding off both the Slayers' desperate efforts, and Valgaav's pain and rage.  
  
But Its awful appearance, purpose, and essence has only begun to be described. And the world of Lina Inverse, completely unprepared, would soon face Its ancient wrath. For It had grown bored, and although millenia passed like seconds to It, It had decided it was time for creation to crumble, in a slow and painful death... Existence and eternity would be remade with blood... And the "Mother of All Things" would not stand in the way of the Dark Brilliance. 


	2. Oldest Legend, Newest Journey

The Dark Brilliance  
Chapter 1: Oldest Legend, Newest Journey  
  
"It is encased in ice and fire, Under siege of wind and water,   
Guarded fierce by creatures of old, Long forgotten, shining with gold"  
  
Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev saw the restaurant. It was at the end of the street, past the weapons shop and magic shop, and all of the peddlers and townspeople that scrambled around in the daily rush.  
  
Their eyes glinted.  
  
It was nearly dark, and they hadn't eaten since that morning. They'd been traveling all day, and the restaurant was the planned meeting spot. Its brown doors and friendly sign swung in the light breeze, as dusk began to set in.  
  
And they ran.  
  
"I want the food first, Gourry! Get out of the way!" Lina screamed as she attempted to shove her companion away, while trying to sprint to the restaurant first.  
  
Gourry uttered an awkward squawk as he was pushed, and then yelled back, "Hey, no fair, Lina! I'm hungry, too!"  
  
People all along the street began to stare as they saw the blur of the rambling duo racing along the street. Their hair flew up behind them as they began sprinting even faster; the notion of food was all it took to power them up.  
  
Gourry grinned. It was just like old times, and he was familiar with the rush of trying to beat Lina to the food; he had hardly ever won, but he still got the food in the end. He was even starting to like all the staring people, 'cause they all looked so comical.  
  
Lina grimaced. The only thing on her mind right now was food, food, FOOD, and she was going to beat Gourry if she had to Fireball everyone in the street, and blast Gourry out of the town!  
  
All was going according to routine. The street flying by, the restaurant in sight, and their capes flapping in the breeze, the two companions were almost to their destination.  
  
All except one thing...  
  
They were going to meet up with some very old friends. And memories of them flooded back into both Gourry and Lina's minds now, regardless of their current desire to eat, which was very unusual. For these were companions that had shared many exciting adventures with the two; adventures of majesty, complexity, and sometimes, miracles. And the lessons learned from them were too important, even for Gourry to forget.  
  
Wow, Lina thought. After all this time, I wonder what it'll be like to see- AUGH!  
  
Lina suddenly fell over, her body falling to the ground with a thud, and Gourry took this as one of the few opportunities to beat Lina. The swordsman took off into the distance, and covered the remaining distance to the restaurant, with people still staring after him.  
  
"Ow, what happened?" Lina asked out loud, dazed. At the speed she was running, coming to a sudden crash stop was like running into a brick wall. Looking down at what she crashed into, she saw another woman of about the same age rubbing her head.  
  
"Sorry, miss," the woman apologized, getting up and brushing herself off. It was clearly Lina's fault, rampaging about, but she was polite enough to say so, anyway.   
  
The woman looked to be in her early 20s, like Lina, but unlike Lina's tomboyish style, her complexion was very elegant. Her attractive sky blue hair was bundled into a casual ponytail in the back, and the ponytail appeared to be held in place by a ruby. Her skin was clear of all faults, her face being the most beautiful of all. And her eyes. They were cool and relaxing, yet warm and inviting, for the clear sky blue of her hair reflected in her clear, all-seeing eyes. She wore an exquisite cloak, as well, mostly of a dazzling white color. The sleeves were frilled with the same blue of her eyes and hair, and another shining ruby shone about her waist. Although her outfit was very simple, it had more beauty than that of any queen.  
  
Lina got to her feet, and then stared, wide-eyed. This woman looked so different than anyone else she'd ever met; it was as if she were an angel that had come down from heaven. Lina, too, had never seen a cloak quite so beautiful before, the white as inviting as the coo of a dove. The "heartless bandit killer" that so often showed no emotion suddenly found herself awkwardly trying to figure out who this goddess was. She stumbled on her words in her disbelief, her desire of food temporarily forgotten. "I... N-no, it... No, it wasn't your fault... Um... Are you from around here? I haven't seen anyone that looks quite like you... around this place." Actually, I haven't seen anyone like you before, ever, Lina thought, wondering where the girl could be from.  
  
"Oh, you'd like my name?" the woman replied, in a pleasant tone, getting off the last bit of dust. "My name is Kyra. I work as a priestess in the 'Outer World', as you put it." She paused, as if considering, and then continued: "I got here about two years ago, to find more exciting places to visit. And, as I found out the hard way, it's hard to get used to this place." She smiled. "In terms of variety and strength, I'm also a pretty powerful sorceress... What about you?"  
  
Lina paused. She still wasn't completely buying all of this, but Kyra did seem like a decent person. She paused a second more, and Kyra's cloak rippled lightly as another breeze started up, and the ruby about her waist glinted like the purest diamond. "A priestess?" Lina asked. "But... you don't look like one... A priestess of what?"  
  
The people had stopped watching the two women by now; they seemed to be simply talking. Nothing unusual was going on, except in Lina's mind...  
  
Kyra shook her head. "Perhaps the outfits are different here, but this is standard attire in the land I come from. And I'm afraid that the name of my temple is secret, and sacred, to my people alone." She shook her hair back, the brilliant blue catching the sun, like waves lapsing against a sandy shore.  
  
Lina nodded. Well, I guess it seems truthful enough... she thought. I don't know why, but this Kyra seems... pure. I feel like I could tell her anything... Like she's a very old friend... After Lina sorted out her thoughts, she grinned decisively, and extended her welcome. "My name is Lina. Lina Inverse. I'm good at sorcery myself; we'll have to compete sometime."  
  
Kyra laughed, a melodic sound that warmed the hearts of those who heard it. The wind slowed down a bit at the sound, as if to pause, and listen. "I'll take you on," she mocked jokingly.  
  
Lina didn't know why, but she felt that she really enjoyed being with this woman, although they'd only been talking for a few minutes. Kyra had done in less than 10 minutes what usually took a very long time to achieve - achieve faith from Lina Inverse. "Why don't you come with me for some dinner, Kyra?" Lina offered. "My companion Gourry and I are meeting up with some old friends; it's a perfect opportunity to introduce you all... I'm sure they'll all welcome you."  
  
"I was only heading back from a stroll when we 'met'," Kyra laughed. "I think I will."  
  
With that, the powerful sorceress and the elegant priestess walked down the street to the restaurant, and entered. Strangely enough, as Kyra walked in through the door, the light caught the gem around her ponytail, and only the gem. And all of a sudden, an emerald shone there; the ruby was gone...  
  
The sun disappeared behind the faraway mountains, and night began to set in.  
  
***  
  
"Miss Lina!" Amelia shouted joyfully, running up to greet Lina as she came in sight of the appropriate table. "It's been such a long time!" Amelia still looked young, as she always did; it was only her eyes that gave away the wisdom, and memories, of passing years.  
  
Lina smiled, and ran up to embrace Amelia. "Yeah, 5 years can change a lot, Amelia. But you look as great as ever." She flashed a thumbs-up sign.  
  
"Wow, Miss Lina, you're sure in a great mood," Amelia commented. But she was glad of it; she'd been half-expecting for Lina to grab her in a headlock or something, for old-times' sake.  
  
The other three at the table had looked up as Amelia left the table, and smiled at the reunion. The images of Darkstar and Valgaav flashed through everyone's minds, as they looked back through the windows of the past.  
  
Gourry lied back in his chair; he hadn't even eaten yet, because he'd been so busy talking with his old companions. Even for someone with memory as bad as his, he still knew that it was important to simply talk, instead of eat. At least Lina won't be angry now, he thought.  
  
Zelgadis smiled one of his rare smiles, as well. Things had been pretty peaceful since they'd fought Darkstar. He hoped it would stay that way. On the downside, his cure still hadn't been found, but to him, it was worth it, because Amelia was always there with him. He'd returned to Seyruun about one and a half years after the parting, to Amelia's great joy and disbelief. He smiled, and his heart jumped a little, as he flashed back to his reunion with her. She was crying openly with happiness that he'd come back. She sure can pack a wallop, Zelgadis thought, remembering how she had punched him as she cried, telling him not to scare her like that again. Amelia had thought that he'd never come back, him usually being so cold and alone. He felt a little jab at his heart as he once again realized his mistake of leaving so suddenly.  
  
When Zel had returned to Seyruun, he had planned, at most, a long visit. But, as it turned out, Amelia's affections kept him there like a dog to a stake. He found himself starting to feel at home there, and when he went on journeys to look for his cure, Amelia couldn't stop him, but always insisted on going with him. Zelgadis admittedly acknowledged that he and Amelia were probably just on the verge of a real relationship, but he would never admit it to her; not now, anyway. Just thinking about it made him nervous.  
  
Filia, too, was relaxed and calm, instead of going through extremes of anger or despair. She'd led a very happy life, actually, since the parting, and her life had gotten even happier, and a lot more hectic, when Val was born. She'd been so worried when the egg didn't hatch after six months; that was usually the longest it took for a Golden Dragon egg to hatch. But, realizing that she knew nothing of Ancient Dragons, she, Jillas, and Grabos still lovingly cared for it. Exactly on the one year anniversary of the battle with Valgaav himself, baby Val hatched. He was now almost four-and-a-half years old. Dragons normally grow at a fast rate, but Filia had still been surprised at how fast the Ancient Dragon grew. Right now, Val looked like he was almost ten years old, and he diligently practiced in his studies. His magic and physical capability were both extremely high, and almost beyond belief for his age, even as a dragon.  
  
And there was no Xellos. Filia hadn't been bothered by him once since the parting. As a matter of fact, none of the Slayers had either seen or heard anything about the Mysterious Priest since that time. They supposed that his business simply didn't involve them anymore. And Filia was very aware of it, as quiet, happy days with Val continued. She tried to convince herself that she was ecstatic that Xellos was totally and utterly gone; she had Val, and Jillas and Grabos were always there to help out. An untrustworthy monster was the last thing she'd need..... And yet.... sometimes she had felt so lonely, even with her help and her child. The images of Xellos sometimes echoed in her mind as she slept, as if to haunt her. She couldn't shake it off, and she cursed herself for feeling like she needed him. The way he'd acted in that last battle - so strong and so determined; Filia felt that if Xellos weren't on their side, the prophecy would never have been fulfilled, and not only because he was the one that could summon Shabranigdo's power. "That's the dragon I know!" he'd said when she finally decided to fight, and there seemed to be no insincerity, either. Empty, empty...  
  
But this is no time to think of it, Filia suddenly thought, shaking her head. She was with her companions now; it was a time of joy and reunion. Val was safely at home, being watched over by Jillas and Grabos. She smiled, washing away the momentary sadness. She hoped he wasn't testing out his magic again on Jillas or Grabos; they always got pretty burnt up...  
  
Gourry, Zelgadis, and Filia switched their attention back to Lina and Amelia, and took in the sense of peacefulness. It looked like they were all back together again.  
  
Amelia broke her embrace from Lina, and said, "C'mon, Miss Lina! Come sit down; we have so much to talk about. Mr. Gourry was just starting to get into what you guys have been doing!"  
  
Lina smiled. "All right, Amelia," she replied, "I know it's been a terribly long time..."  
  
She stepped back a little. "But first... I'd like you all to meet someone..." At this, the three at the table sat up straighter; they wondered who Lina was talking about, especially Gourry, who had no recollection of who Lina was talking about, and for once was right not to. Amelia stayed where she was, looking at Lina expectantly.  
  
"Who, Miss Lina?" Amelia asked, puzzled.  
  
The air held its breath.  
  
And around the corner after Lina, until in sight of the table, strode Kyra. It felt as if her earrings should have clanged together, or her jewels should have shone dazzlingly, but she had no earrings, and her jewels stayed just as they were. For she needed no introductory noise or light; the Slayers stared wide-eyed as the bright goddess came to stand next to Lina. Her sky-blue purity shone just as it did before, and she laughed once again, like a gentle river flowing across a valley. "I'm glad to meet you all," she said, looking them over.  
  
Lina gestured at Amelia, who still looked to be in semi-shock at such a beautifully perfect woman, to go and sit down. Beckoning Kyra, Lina went to get two more chairs, and then set them down at the table. The six sat around the table now, but what was supposed to be an active reunion had turned into a confused jumble.  
  
Zelgadis and Filia managed a happy greeting at Lina, whom that hadn't talked to in so long, but then lapsed back into silence, gazing at Kyra. "Who... is she... Miss Lina...?" Filia asked Lina, hesitantly.  
  
"Oh, come on, guys!" Lina said loudly, scaring the silence away. "It's not like she's a zoo animal! She's just a very nice woman I met,"- or rather, crashed into, Lina thought. - "on the street before. I thought we should all get to know each other."  
  
Surprisingly, Zelgadis was the one that broke the silence with Lina. He knew it was silly to be gaping like that, and he cursed himself silently for letting himself get carried away with everyone else. "My name is Zelgadis Greywords," he introduced himself, offering his hand to Kyra's. With that said, Kyra introduced herself to everyone, and pretty much described the same amount of what she did, and where she came from, as when she was talking to Lina.  
  
In no time at all, the Slayers and Kyra had started talking happily again. "Dinner for twenty, and step on it!" Lina shouted at the nearest waiter, so that they could get started on eating.  
  
Kyra mostly sat by and listened to the stories of the Slayers' past as they talked, and no one could really tell what she was thinking as they spoke of past battles. Still, she contributed conversation sometimes.   
  
"Gourry, you idiot! How dare you leave me on the ground after I trip!" Lina was yelling now, grabbing Gourry in a headlock, and getting back into present times.  
  
"But-but Lina," Gourry choked. "Sometimes you throw me on the ground on purpose!"  
  
The other Slayers watched the display with amusement; it looked like Lina and Gourry hadn't changed at all. After Zel and Filia had told their basic stories, which they had been thinking about, Amelia started talking about what she'd been doing.  
  
"Business in Seyruun was rather boring after we last met," admitted Amelia. "It was only recently that things have started to get more exciting; very exciting, actually. As you all know, our last expedition to explore the entire Outer World ended in rather abrupt disaster, when a sorceress we all know managed to sink the entire Seyruun fleet..."  
  
Lina looked sheepish, remembering how she'd caused a huge tsunami after she'd tried firing the Dragonslave at Filia. However, Gourry, and even Zelgadis, smiled, remembering the long disastrous days without food as a result.   
  
Filia looked a bit sheepish, too. "Well, at least I got to find out if you were strong enough to take on the prophecy," she commented.   
  
Amelia, in contrast, looked annoyed. "Daddy was pretty angry that we just took off, leaving all those sunken ships. He told me so after we finished the battle and separated," she explained. "It's been five years, though, and this time our fleet is ten times stronger; we'll be able to explore the Outer World... for real."   
  
Kyra, in her turn, smiled at the conversation. "You didn't tell me you knew such powerful magic, Lina," she pointed out. "It makes me all the more eager to have our competition all the sooner."  
  
"Competition?" the rest of the Slayers asked in unison. "Oh, it's just a little thing, guys," Lina explained. "Kyra says she knows some powerful magic too, and we want to see whose magic is stronger."  
  
Everyone gaped. "Miss Lina, don't you think that's a bit dangerous?" Filia asked. "Where would you find a place large enough for you guys to compete with spells as powerful as the Dragon Slave?"  
  
"Well..." Lina paused, considering. "Now that you mention it, I have no idea!"  
  
Everyone else fell over. Except for Kyra. "Don't worry; I know of a perfect place in the Outer World. We'll have our duel. I promise."  
  
The Slayers got back up, and acknowledged Kyra's statement. "I suppose we'll have a chance to be by ourselves when we journey out again," Amelia said. "I'll have to ask Daddy when, though. We wouldn't want to miss the fleet on the way back."  
  
Filia smiled. "Yes, it'll be pretty odd to actually journey normally instead of going off on our own, for once. There's no deadly prophecy this time... No great evil to conquer..." The others nodded in agreement, and in relief.  
  
Kyra's eyes glittered, and suddenly her presence seemed to loom a hundred times stronger. "Isn't there?" she asked softly, yet with great power.  
  
Everyone tensed up at this. "What do you mean?" asked Zelgadis cautiously.  
  
Kyra lost her beautiful smile, and her face darkened a bit. "There is always evil about. But this time, it stands unrivaled. Back in the Outer World, and through my sources here, I have heard that high up in the sky, there have been repeated sightings. Some claim it is only an illusion, and I had my doubts as well, until I could have sworn I saw it once, glittering in the heavens."  
  
"What is it?" Lina asked, puzzled; she hadn't heard anything. It seemed that Kyra always knew something that she had no idea of.  
  
"The Staff of the Gods."  
  
"The WHAT?!" the Slayers exclaimed in unison.  
  
Except for Gourry, of course. "Uh... is that important somehow...? It sounds kinda familiar, like someone told me something about it, or maybe I-"  
  
WHAM! He was abruptly cut off as Lina punched him square in the face. "You idiot! How could you forget what the Staff is? Remember the Philosopher's Stone? With Rezo? The thing in the Orihalcon statue that you carried around for days???"  
  
Gourry stared, wide-eyed. "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."  
  
Everyone sweatdropped. Kyra smiled hesitantly. "This man... Gourry... has no idea what the Staff of the Gods is?" she asked in disbelief.  
  
"Trust me, Miss Kyra," Amelia whispered to her. "Once you get to know Mr. Gourry, you'll be expecting this sort of thing..."  
  
Lina sighed, and went into an explanation. "The Philosopher's Stone was one of the most powerful amplifying devices of all, like my demon blood talismans, capable of overthrowing entire kingdoms. But it was a mere piece of the Staff of the Gods, which, according to legend, supports the entire world. If the Staff has been sighted, then that means that apocalypse is upon us. According to ancient lore, it means that some evil greater than the mozaku will destroy the Staff, and consequently our world. I truly thought that such a thing was impossible, and that it was only a tale to entertain small children. But now, if all as is foretold... Darkness will consume everything that exists, and all of creation will lapse back into chaos... Understand?"  
  
Gourry was about to say something, but then was hit in the head again by Lina. "You know what?" Lina said, with a hint of annoyance. "One thing I've learned is that these long descriptions do everything but actually teach you anything. So let's not even bother this time..."  
  
Kyra nodded, approving the description of the legend, and Amelia, Zelgadis, and Filia looked worried. "Does this mean something horrible's going to happen to the expedition this time, too?" Amelia asked, sadly. Zelgadis found himself wanting to comfort Amelia, his usual cold nature thrown aside. He started to reach out to her, but stopped himself just in time. I must find my cure first before I even try to get close to her... he thought to himself bitterly. He shared Amelia's sorrow, and the news about the Staff had greatly unnerved him.  
  
Filia, torn between reason and lore, protested, "But I used to be a servant of the Fire Dragon King. I was a servant of the Gods, a priestess for my people. If there really had been such a terrible thing afoot, I surely would have sensed it somehow."  
  
Kyra nodded understandingly. "Ah, but the Fire Dragon King would not know of such an ancient evil. The Staff of the Gods itself is beyond the comprehension of Ceipheed's servants. As I am from the Outer World, we have different sources for these legends; the people of your land, sealed inside the ancient barrier of Ceipheed and Shabranigdo for so long, would not know much of these things."  
  
Filia nodded, and understood.  
  
Lina sat up straighter at the table. "If what you say is true, Kyra, then I'll voice my opinion. Listen up, especially you, Gourry. The legend of the Staff is too ancient that any clear details can be made of it; it is not said what dark lord may come about. Since the mozaku aren't even involved, I'm not sure what to expect. But I'll tell you this - We've used our gut feelings to win more than one battle, and my heart tells me now that if an evil really does come, it will be far worse than our battle with Darkstar could have measured up to..."  
  
A silent gloom settled over the table, with each knowing that they would be drawn into an adventure once again - it seemed that fate wanted it to be that way. Kyra remained clear-eyed; she clearly knew more, that she would not yet reveal.  
  
Suddenly, Filia tensed, breaking her hesitant mood. She sensed something, but she wasn't quite sure yet... She felt a shadow dancing in the back of her mind, and then she could have sworn she'd seen something move out of the corner of her eye... There it was - she felt it fully now; she knew he was here. Any second now...  
  
Everyone looked up as they heard the sound of a single person clapping. Filia was right - it was him. Xellos was back, just like that. As expected, he looked exactly the same as he had the last time they'd seen him. His violet hair shined a little under the light of the rising moon, and that was all the introduction he needed. "Well done, as always, Lina Inverse," he commented, in the typical Xellos fashion. Ironically, it was almost exactly the same entrance he'd made the first time the Slayers had met him.  
  
"XELLOS?!" the Slayers exclaimed. Filia, for some reason, felt better about the situation even as she got annoyed that the Mysterious Priest was back. She felt a connection with Xellos that she couldn't shake, no matter how hard she tried. She felt more complete again, and once again was annoyed at herself for it.  
  
"Well, it's official," Lina sighed. She'd had more than enough surprises for one day, and the appearance of their old accquaintance was the last straw. "If Xellos is showing up again, that means Kyra's sources are correct, and it also means that we're all in for another round of trouble."  
  
"Y-you..." Zelgadis managed to get out. He still despised the Trickster Priest as much as ever.  
  
"Oh, come now!" Xellos replied calmly and happily. "I'm not always an omen for bad news! In fact, the only reason I showed up was to say hello to you all!"  
  
"Really..." Lina muttered.  
  
"That is a secret!" Xellos glanced over at Filia. "Ah, my beloved dragon is here as well!" he teased.  
  
"Namagomi..." Filia muttered angrily.  
  
"Excuse me," Kyra suddenly broke in, still a stranger. "Who is this?"  
  
Xellos, noticing her for the first time, actually looked a little surprised as he took in the sight, but then quickly covered his reaction with an air of smugness. "I... am the Mysterious Priest!" he introduced himself.  
  
"C'mon!" Lina broke in. "This is no time to keep your stupid secrets! His name is Xellos, he's a high-ranking mozaku, and he's the servant of Beastmaster."  
  
"Oh, so this is the Xellos you were talking about before," Kyra realized.  
  
Xellos actually looked rather annoyed. Lina had spoiled his grand entrance.  
  
"Mr. Xellos, what ARE you here for?" Amelia asked, speaking up.  
  
Regaining his composure, Xellos replied, with the air of one answering a very obvious question, "Why, to accompany you on your new journey, of course!"  
  
"Again?!" the Slayers protested.  
  
"Well," Xellos replained. "Lord Beastmaster had heard of these sightings of the supposed Staff of the Gods, and these events are clearly important enough that I'll be travelling with you again. But who are you?" he finished, gesturing to Kyra again.  
  
Once again, Kyra introduced herself. Then, she faced the rest of the people at the table. If the power that seemed to be coming from her had seemed radient before, it had now increased beyond comprehension. Her voice was as decisive as it was soft, now. "I have decided that I too will travel with you all. You seem to know what you're doing, and I was beginning to think that no one of this land would be able to aid against the coming wickedness."  
  
Gourry looked confused. "Are we going anywhere soon?"  
  
Zelgadis looked a bit confused himself. "Yes, didn't you say the fleet wasn't leaving for several months, Amelia?" he asked.  
  
Kyra interrupted, taking in her new traveling companions. "Since I have decided that you are all worthy of this journey, it is vital that we begin the quest right away. Time is precious now; the Staff will be sighted more and more often, and the disaster will get ever nearer. I'm afraid I had lied to you, Lina. I did not get here two years ago simply as an adventurer. I have been searching well in advance of these sightings in order to find people of this land that are powerful enough to aid this world. There may be nothing left to go explore by the time Seyruun is ready to launch its ships." She flung her hair back, and in the light of the moon, it shone beautifully. "We must go. Now."  
  
Xellos had stood by with wonder; this was surely not a normal human; he didn't sense any ordinary emotions inside her. She also talked and acted in a way that seemed higher than humans could be capable of. For the first time, he found himself unable to pinpoint any knowledge on a living being. It was as if she wasn't of this world...  
  
Lina looked at Kyra, unsure. "But how are we to stop the foretold evil? And how do we even get to the Outer World?"  
  
Kyra nodded. "It is true that I have not explained what is to be done. But the full extent of the tasks will be revealed to you as we get to the Outer World. Back in my homeland, I had heard of the oldest temple of all, forgotten on this world, within the depths of a region foreign to both the people here, and I. It was supposedly created when chaos came into being, and was put deep into this world, in a place so secret that none were supposed to even hear of it. It is encased in ice and fire, under siege of wind and water, guarded fierce by creatures of old, long forgotten, shining with gold. That is what the oldest legend of my land speaks of, and we should be able to find it with the help of you travelers. I do not need to test you; I can sense it in your essence that you have what it takes to attempt this quest, and that every journey you have spoken of before is true to the fullest degree."  
  
Amelia spoke again, voicing everyone's question once more, "But how do we get to the Outer World?"  
  
"I will take care of that," Kyra whispered, and those words seemed to have all the power in the world. Her voice held great suspense, and then almost seemed to take physical form.  
  
All of a sudden, the restaurant was gone, and only endless blue space stretched out in every direction. The sky-blue of Kyra's eyes and hair glowed so bright, it was as if they had lives of their own. Her jewels flashed every color in the spectrum. Her voice rang clearly and eternally, and it sounded unearthly to every member of the group. "Follow me," she spoke, simply. Kyra flung out both of her arms in a sudden motion, her robes billowing. To the amazement of all, golden wings tinted with sky-blue edges erupted gracefully out of their guide's shoulders. Truly an angel had come to that earth; it was all the more disbelieving. And as Kyra gave another flick of her wrist, her companions all sprouted the same wings as well, as if in a dream world.  
  
"Follow me," Kyra repeated, clearly, gesturing forward into the endless blue. The Slayers were silent, bewildered. Even Xellos clearly had no idea what was going on. Their bodies moved on their own, their wings lifted them upwards... It was not moving through the physical plane, it was not teleportation, and it was not magic. It was spiritual, of the same nature as Kyra. The goddess flew swiftly off into the distance, with Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, Filia, and Xellos gliding close behind...  
  
It had begun. 


	3. Transcendant Duel

The Dark Brilliance  
Chapter 2: Transcendent Duel  
  
"A duel is two glittering jewels. One might shine brighter, but which is truly genuine?"  
  
His master had sent for him. And he knew that the Dark Brilliance was not to be disobeyed. From the countless millennia that the Dark Brilliance had dwelled in chaos, he had gathered much hatred, greed, jealously, and other negative feelings. But it would not be wasted just for pleasure, like the impotent mozaku race had done.  
  
His master had created many servants with his limitless power at one time, but then had killed them all and absorbed them again when their purpose was rendered to be obsolete. Now, the Dark Brilliance had once again created servants, but not many, not useless slaves. He had created Three. Three that possessed the same types of horrible power as their master, and which would keep the Dark Brilliance amused while he was off on more important duties.  
  
And now the order had been sent. He would be the first to attack the world of Lina Inverse, and there was great honor in that. He knew that he was the weakest of the Three; his master had never lied to him, but it did not matter. He only wanted to serve his master, and he was dying for some new emotions, to make him all the stronger. If all went well, he would be the one to carry out his master's orders in its completeness - to kill Lina Inverse and her companions, for they were not to interfere...  
  
He vanished, laughing horribly. The air where he had been gave a shriek of pain, and then exploded inwardly, turning back into chaos.  
  
***  
  
Lina and the others continued through the blue portal, their wings glittering powerfully. Lina surely wanted to know what was going on, and opened her mouth to ask...  
  
Or tried to. She was comfortable the way she was, but it seemed that in this place, Kyra was in control, and she would just have to wait until they got to the Outer World, however the travel worked. But she greatly wondered - what type of sorcery was this? In all her years of magic training and experience, Lina had never remotely heard of such a spell, or one that changed others' bodies, and then allowed such total control...  
  
Kyra's hair and eyes continued to shine beautifully, and her mouth was set in a thin line - it seemed she knew exactly what she was doing, and where she was going. Her wings were the only ones that really flapped, as she led her companions along the endless blue.  
  
Up ahead, and then all around the travelers, a brilliant blue light began to get brighter and brighter, an aura seemingly coming from Kyra's body. Her perfect shimmering white cloak glowed brighter as well, but, oddly enough, the Slayers needed not to shield their eyes. As they were safe being guided by Kyra, their bodies were safe from all harm, as well. At last, the light got so bright that the travelers' visions were filled with it entirely, despite the fact that they didn't need to hide from it.  
  
At once, there was one last brilliant blue flash from the already blinding light, and then it was over.  
  
Kyra landed quietly on her feet, her wings quickly shrinking back into her shoulders. A beautiful clear sky is shining overhead, and the grass was greener than any spot back in the Slayers' homeland.  
  
Lina and the rest of the group landed in a heap, dazed. Their wings simply vanished into thin air all of a sudden without a trace. As they began to breathe normally again and become accustomed to the new environment, all six companions got up, and brushed themselves off.  
  
There was a still silence, broken only by the quiet chirping of a faraway bird. It was truly a miraculous place, seemingly devoid of trouble; tranquility stretched out, quietly, in all directions. It seemed to be Paradise, materialized on earth.  
  
The Slayers still didn't know what to think, and Kyra still stood silently, looking out at the horizon, as if waiting for something. The emerald around her ponytail shimmered, and then transformed into a simple yellow flower.  
  
"Okay," Gourry finally managed, breaking the silence. "What exactly just happened here?"  
  
The rest of the travelers, including a rarely-confused and speechless Xellos, nodded their heads, also demanding to know what process had carried them to what they believed to be the Outer World.  
  
Kyra suddenly laughed again, breaking her emotionless mood, and her essence glittered with perfection, once more. "Did it surprise you?" she asked, smiling.  
  
"Did it surprise us?" Zelgadis repeated with disbelief. "We were just sitting in the restaurant talking, when all of a sudden everything disappears, you have us flying after you with wings that came out of nowhere, unable to move or talk, and you asked if it SURPRISED us?!"  
  
"Oh, come now," laughed Kyra. "It wasn't as bad as all that. It's the safest and most elegant way of travel where I come from."  
  
Amelia gaped. "You mean your people do this all the time for casual travel, Miss Kyra?"  
  
Kyra nodded back. "It's called de-quintessence movement. Usually, only one person controls it. I took the purest and most essential essences of each one of you, and then moved myself to the same state. Once we left all other parts of ourselves behind, shape, form, and state of mind mean nothing. Since I was the one that initiated it, I was the one that controlled where we went. It happens to be the custom of my people to travel using the golden, blue-tipped wings; it's very beautiful to us. Once we got here, your bodies, minds, and whatever else simply connected back with you again; it is the nature of togetherness that enables the rest of you to travel with the movement."  
  
"Why don't you use teleportation?" Xellos and Filia asked simultaneously, and then, realizing they'd said the same thing at the same time again, hmphed, and looked away from each other.  
  
"Ah, teleportation is moving your body physically through another plane? But eventually that would tire you! Instead of moving a body that gets easily tired, I moved the quintessence, which is the very throb of life; it is far more efficient. Also, it is far faster. I do not think either of you could have traveled all the way to the other side of the world so quickly." Kyra laughed. "But you two sure seem like you would make a nice couple. Are you?"  
  
There was a momentary silence, and then the rest of the Slayers burst out laughing as Xellos and Filia spoke at once, saying "WHAT?! NEVER!"  
  
Lina made gesture of frustration. "C'mon, you guys. We've only been together for how long, and you're already doing this?"  
  
Xellos opened his mouth to say something, but then was promptly hit over the head by Filia's mace. "Finally got you, namagomi! Serves you right for embarrassing me all this time!" Xellos grimaced, then smiled weakly as he healed.  
  
Kyra smiled. "You seem quite the interesting group!" she commented.  
  
"Indeed," muttered Zelgadis.  
  
"Miss Kyra, where exactly are we?" Amelia asked.  
  
"Well, we're between the spot you previously explored, according to your description, and my homeland. Quite convenient. And Lina... are you ready to duel?"  
  
Lina gaped. "What? Here?"  
  
Kyra nodded, to everyone's surprise.  
  
"But this looks like a perfectly natural landscape. Wouldn't you end up destroying everything?" Amelia asked, worried.  
  
"Watch," Kyra whispered. "Let's do something basic..." She moved her hands in a familiar set of movements, and then thrust them outwards. "Fireball!" she said, and the blast flew into a relatively close pile of rocks.  
  
Her companions watched as the blast hit the rocks, destroying them, and then gasped as the rocks flew back together into their original position. The recovery was so complete that it was as if nothing had happened in the first place. "But... how?" Xellos asked; he'd never seen any landscape of this sort. In fact, he was getting rather tired of asking for the secrets, rather than keeping them.  
  
"Is it some sort of spell?" Lina asked, bewildered.  
  
Zelgadis, Amelia, and Filia also looked clueless, but for once, Gourry seemed to know what he was doing. "I know!" he said. "It must be some sort of holy place!"  
  
Kyra nodded. "Right. This is the exact spot where Ceipheed fell, after battling with Shabranigdo, before he vanished into chaos. It is the most blessed land in all our world, and no one knows of it but my people."  
  
Amelia gaped. "Uh... how did you know it was holy, Mr. Gourry?"  
  
"Yeah, how could a jellyfish-brain like you actually know what's going on when nothing's making sense?" Lina demanded.  
  
"C'mon, guys!" Gourry protested. "Give me some credit! This was almost as obvious as when I figured out that Xellos was a mozaku!"  
  
Filia burst out laughing. "Looks like you need to tidy up your act, namagomi!" she commented, smiling.  
  
Xellos's eye twitched. "It's just a coincidence! And stop calling me that!"  
  
"You seem to be losing your cool, Xellos," Zelgadis said, leaning against a tree.  
  
Xellos was really tiring of not knowing what was going on, and now he was getting made fun of. "Well, I'll see you all later, then. I've got other things to attend to for now...." he muttered, a hint of annoyance in his voice. He teleported away.  
  
***  
  
All was ready.  
  
Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Filia stood off a safe distance away. They agreed that if the explosions got too severe, Amelia and Zelgadis could cast barriers, and, if necessary, Filia as well.  
  
The sun shone brightly overhead, illuminating the tranquil landscape. Everything was as it should be.  
  
Except for the two sorceresses. Lina clenched her fists slightly. "It's been a long time since I had a real magic duel with someone," she said to Kyra, who stood a good distance away. "Ever since I perfected black magic, there was no one worthy dueling with. All the real battles I've had have been with enemies."  
  
Kyra smiled, and the flower around her ponytail quietly transformed into a glittering diamond. "I'm glad I'll have the honor." She brought her hands down to her sides. "Shall we begin?"  
  
Lina nodded, and wondered how strong this Kyra really was. As according to traditional sorcery ceremony, both magicians shouted "Lighting!", casting their spells into the sky, and meeting them, and then shielding their eyes. The moment the double spells' effects wore off, the moment the duel would truly begin.  
  
Lina tensed a little, as she held her hand to her forehead, protecting her eyes. She'd felt great power in that Lighting spell alone, but she could also feel that it was greatly contained. Who was her opponent, really? Were all of her people normally this strong? There was so much Lina didn't know...  
  
Kyra smiled.  
  
All at once, the Lighting spell diminished, and the duel began.  
  
"Fire... ball!" Lina shouted, firing the blast, and then instantly levitating into the sky.  
  
The energy scorched towards Kyra, who wasn't moving, her hair billowing down over her white robes....  
  
Lina hovered in the air for a split-second, wondering if the blast would hit... and then gasped.  
  
The blast hit the far rock face, and the land quickly reformed itself. And Kyra was untouched. She had simply shifted from where she was standing to the air above her; one second she was there, and the next second she was simply gone. It was like teleportation, but Lina felt it had a different power...  
  
Lina barely had time to regain her composure; all of this had happened in only two or three seconds, and Kyra had already fired a Flare Arrow at Lina.  
  
Lina had only managed to duck out of the way just barely, when she suddenly realized. "I... didn't hear any words from her whatsoever. She doesn't need to say the name of the spell or perform any actions to cast magic...?" Lina whispered to herself.  
  
Snapping back into reality, Lina quickly cast a basic barrier before a dozen Ice Arrows from Kyra struck all around her. The elegance of the ice was captured in the sun for a second, before they shot away. They flew off into the distance, freezing the land everywhere, which instantly thawed and went back to its natural state.  
  
"Is she... that strong?" Filia asked, in disbelief.  
  
The other three shared similar thoughts, and Amelia already had the first barrier up, as a precaution.  
  
Lina swung around quickly in the air, knowing she'd have to cast more powerful spells if she was going to stand a chance. Lina performed the necessary motions, and then cast her spell. "Burst Flare!" she yelled, and the highly amplified Fireball rushed towards Kyra. Learning from her previous mistake of just watching, Lina fired a dozen Flare Arrows to amplify the effects. Quickly landing on the ground, the sorceress put her hand to the ground and unleashed the final part of her barrage. "Dug Haut!" Enormous stone spikes began rushing out of the ground around Kyra.  
  
Kyra's eyes glittered. "Balus... Wall!" she shouted, and her perfect face changed to one of competition and battle. Since Kyra had actually uttered the words of the spell, it was far more powerful. The enormous barrier swung up in front of her, and dispelled all of the fire attacks.  
  
Lina yelled, firing a Freeze Brid attack at Kyra, the opposite of a fireball.  
  
Kyra flew out of the way, and the ice ball broke into pieces as one of the emerging spikes of the Dug Haut shattered it. Ice billowed out everywhere, and then the landscape completely healed.  
  
Kyra's eyes suddenly glinted, and Lina cast a Ray Wing, flying up into the air, just avoiding being hit by an earth attack. "Pretty good," Lina admitted. "Ready for more?"  
  
"Am I ever," Kyra stated, smiling. "It's time to get a bit more advanced." She flew at Lina, calling out a spell. "Hell Blast!" The spear of dark energy formed in her hand, and she flew faster as she almost got to Lina.  
  
Lina cast a Diem Wing, hoping to blow Kyra backwards, as she flew upwards to avoid her attack. Kyra swerved to the side to avoid the wind, and then shifted, as if in teleporation, once again, ending up directly above Lina.  
  
Lina quickly looked up, and spotted her opponent. "Val Flare!" she shouted, as Kyra hurled the spear downwards.  
  
The two blasts met in mid-air, and instead of cancelling out, spread chaotic red and black flames everywhere. The land was barely able to keep up with healing now that the real battle had started.  
  
Zelgadis cast the second barrier, as flames fell around them, falling aside harmlessly as they hit the barrier.  
  
"It's quite a battle," Amelia whispered, her eyes glued on the fight even as she held up the first barrier.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Gourry. "I haven't seen Lina like this in a long time.... I wonder who's gonna win..."  
  
"Hyah!" Lina yelled, casting two Vice Flares, and then diving down lower.  
  
Kyra blocked both of them with an Astral Vine sword that seemed to have been made out of thin air. The air around her darkened, and it was clear she'd powered up for something powerful. It crackled. The energy thickened. And she attacked. "Ultima Flare!" she cried, launching a colossal blast from her hands.  
  
"What the?" Lina gasped, as the blast filled her vision. "I've never heard of that spell before..." Lina flew as fast as she could out of the way, and managed to dodge it, but barely. The sphere of energy singed her as it barreled down out of the cosmos.  
  
As the blast hit the ground, the land seemed to hold its breath. And then the explosion. It was at least as powerful as the Dragon Slave, and the air everywhere exploded in flames from the blast.  
  
Filia cast the third barrier, and looked skywards. "Looks like we'll be here for a while..." she commented.  
  
The other three nodded.  
  
Lina grimaced. It looked like Kyra would have quite a few tricks up her sleeve during this battle; there must be more advanced spells where that came from.  
  
"Demona... CRYSTAL!" Lina shouted, and the icy fog raced towards Kyra, which would freeze her, rendering movement useless.  
  
Kyra shifted again, and appeared a short distance behind Lina. "Fireball!" Kyra yelled, the blast soaring towards the other sorceress.  
  
Lina gasped, and then barely had time to cast a barrier before the blast hit. "Time to get serious, then," she said, and started her spell.  
  
Kyra smiled radiantly, looking as if she had all the time in the world.  
  
"Lord of the Four Worlds..." Lina began, as her talismans began to shine.  
  
"She's doing what?" Zelgadis asked, surprised. "Be on your guard; strengthen your barriers!"  
  
"Grant me all the power that you possess..." Lina continued. A red aura started to grow around her from the energy that she was prepared to release.  
  
Kyra then reacted, casting a Ray Wing in preparation. A blue aura started growing around her; she was powering up, strengthening her defense...  
  
Lina's crimson aura erupted as the sorceress unleashed her power. "Blast Bomb!" cried Lina, firing the ultra-powerful attack at her opponent.  
  
A dozen balls of fire shot at Kyra, each one several times stronger than a Fireball. Even with the Ray Wing attack, it looked like it would be hopeless. The Blast Bomb is almost beyond human capability to cast.  
  
But Lina knew better. And she knew not to underestimate Kyra at this stage. She quickly landed on the ground as explosions began devastating the sky, and began the chant, still calling on the power of the Demon Blood Talismans. "Darkness beyond twilight..."  
  
Gourry's eyes widened. "She's really casting an amplified Dragon Slave!" he cried, worried.  
  
Amelia, Zelgadis, and Filia grimaced, and each strengthened their barriers. What had started out as a friendly duel had gotten infinitely more dangerous. It was the greatest sorcery battle any of them had ever seen...  
  
The air darkened, fearing the worst. The mountains which looked so peaceful loomed tall and ominous.  
  
"Crimson beyond blood that flows..."  
  
The talismans glowed brighter as the fire from the Blast Bomb grew ever larger, consuming Kyra's Ray Wing; none could see what had happened...  
  
"Buried in the stream of time..."  
  
The red aura around Lina deepened. The Slayers strengthened their barriers.  
  
"Is where your power grows..."  
  
Lighting flashed down from the sky, illuminating the black landscape. All around, a great power could be felt.  
  
"I pledge myself to conquer, all the foes who stand... Before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hand. Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed... by the power you and I possess!"  
  
Lina gave a determined glance to the heavens, and then she launched the spell, as the Blast Bomb began to die down...  
  
"DRAGON... SLAVE!" An enormous blast shot from the sorceress's hands, toward the smoke of where the Blast Bomb had hit Kyra.  
  
To everyone's disbelief, an equally strong blue blast shot out of the smoke, and as it cleared, Kyra was seen, still alive and well. Her eyes glittered with power, but her true power had yet to come into play.  
  
Blast met blast, and the sky sang with might. The blasts were too powerful to dissipate, or even explode, and so both sides were trying to force their blasts to their opponents. While Lina clenched her teeth, expending more effort, Kyra looked only to have little strain on her mind. The landscape deepened even further, and waves of energy spread in all directions. Beneath the blackness of the sky, the two sorceresses heated up the duel to its limits.  
  
L-sama, she's strong! Lina thought, powerfully surprised. Even after all the precautions and extra spells, she had still ended up underestimating Kyra. It looked like the duel would end with Lina's loss; she had been matched in every way, and realization of the opponent was beginning to set in.  
Kyra's eyes shone, bluer than ever, and her hair blew elegantly behind her from the energy emitted by the battle. She didn't act like she wasn't trying at all, but she obviously had a lot more power to put forth, if necessary.  
  
Both combatants tensed up now, and got ready for the last push to determine the victor.  
  
The others brought up the barriers to maximum power, and Gourry stood completely still, surveying the fight in silence. Even someone as dense as him realized the unbelieveable events of Lina and Kyra's duel.  
  
Lina gave a shout, and pushed the Dragon Slave's blast forward with all her might, and then...  
  
The blasts vanished. Both blasts suddenly vanished, swishing into nothing, without a trace. The duel had been unceremoniously ended.  
  
Darkness. Wrath. It suddenly ate at the space everywhere, and life throbbed more slowly at some horrible event.  
  
"What the?" Lina managed to gasp, before looking up. Her eyes widened considerably, and her mouth hung open slightly, looking at the creature that had materialized. "L-sama..." she whispered, fear suddenly clutching at her.  
  
Beyond horror. Beyond anything.  
  
Kyra seemed to be taking the situation seriously as well. Her expression, now altered, was no longer a smile, or emotionless. It had turned to cold fury, and the blue from her eyes flashed menacingly. "One of you..." she hissed, gazing at the shadowy figure that had appeared in place of the blasts. The diamond around her hair glinted one last time, and a black skull appeared in its place.  
  
It cannot be destroyed. It cannot be opposed.  
  
"What is... that??" Gourry panted, looking at the creature in horror, but Amelia, Zelgadis, and Filia could only gape in silence.  
  
Like an unwavering swarm of despair, the creature hung, suspended, even then causing decay to the withering sky.  
  
It seemed to hold the essence of evil. Chaotic red and black power radiated from its vulgar body, and eyes that gleamed worse than the pits of hell stared forward. Eyes that showed no compassion. "Master," he said, simply, bowing to no one. "I shall be the one to destroy them." He wore clothing made completely out of pitch-black material, so that it seemed he was suspended in darkness entirely. The mouth was contorted, gaping and terrible. It was made out of the substance of the Dark Brilliance, and fulfilled the role brilliantly. And as the creature breathed in its dark essence once again, the Slayers could see shadows of the duel dancing around it. The thing had absorbed both blasts, with ease. "Lina Inverse!" he suddenly shouted, his face slowly forming into a smile of utter evil. "Now I challenge you. Now my wrath will be the one to tear you apart." He held up his hand to the sky, and suddenly something materialized, making all that witnessed it gasp.  
  
It was the Staff of the Gods. 


	4. First Hell

The Dark Brilliance  
Chapter 3: First Hell  
  
"If courage itself flees in terror, what more can be done?"  
  
Lina gasped in horror and pain; an overwhelming wave of death seemed to sweep past her, ebbing from the darkness the creature throbbed. The Staff gleamed brilliantly in the darkness, the only source of light in the now hollow and sinister land. "It can't be!" she cried, in desperation, and in fear. "You can't have snatched the Staff of the Gods. It was destroyed long ago!"  
  
Amelia shivered as she, Zelgadis, and Filia lost the will to cast the barriers. The once-strong protection vanished into nothingness; the darkness absorbed it, just as it had done with everything else. "It'll be all right..." Zelgadis assured Amelia, his own heart throbbing with uncertainty.  
  
"No prophecy could have readied anyone for this..." Filia whispered.  
  
Gourry still stood silent.  
  
And Kyra still watched, cold and foreboding. She and Lina still levitated idly in the air.  
  
"Do you not accept my challenge?" the creature asked again.  
  
Kyra suddenly started. "Give the Staff to me!" she yelled. "You have no right to call upon the power of gods like that when you yourself are only a tool of hell!" Her voice dripped with a venom that had never been heard from her before.  
  
The creature suddenly laughed, and it was terrible. Evil dispensed like water during a monsoon. Every person present felt its presence. "You fool. Hell is MY tool. But I've been ignorant. Did I even introduce myself?"  
  
"Who would want to know the name of a disgusting worm like you?" Kyra spat, and the skull around her hair glowed even darker. Lina could only watch, dumbfounded, and unsure where the conversation would lead.  
  
"You may call me Anguish. It is the closest translation I can get from the true me." Anguish smiled again, and his dead eyes reflected nothing. "I will not conceal my identity; I will not need to, since your deaths will mark my name forever, and it is better to know the name of the murderer, don't you think? I am the weakest of the Three that serve my Lord. You pathetic fools are not worthy of hearing His name, but it won't matter to you, in any case. I expect He is watching now. But you believe I am being unfair, with this Staff? Perhaps the power amplification is a bit too much...." he remarked, casually.  
  
"What are you?!" Zelgadis suddenly shouted, from far below. "Why have you come to disrupt us in this sacred land???"  
  
"Ah, company," smirked Anguish. "Isn't it bothersome?" Without a second thought, he suddenly blasted a tremendous sphere of dark power in the direction of Zelgadis and the others.  
  
"No!" Lina shouted, snapping back into reality. She would never be able to get there in time. She wouldn't be able to save them. The energy was blasting closer. She didn't have time to think.  
  
Gourry knew it was useless to run; it was obvious to him as a fighter that it was coming too fast for them to dodge. Amelia, Filia, and Zelgadis, without any further options, immediately reinstated their shields.  
  
Kyra's eyes flared. "NO, IT WON'T WORK!" she screamed, realizing the power of the attack. In a blur of blue that Lina's eyes couldn't follow, she shifted through space, and shifted herself and the others away.  
  
The explosion that followed was small, but the smell of destruction was unmistakable. To Lina's horror, after the smoke cleared, the land remained as it was, scorched and mutilated. The land could not heal. Would never heal.  
  
Lina looked desperately around for her companions, but decided against it; Anguish would probably destroy her while she was exposed like that. All she could hear now was Anguish's dreadful laughter, echoing inside her being, tearing at her insides. It was impossible. That's what it was. All of the enemies she'd ever encountered, all of the mozaku that had been threatening the lives of herself and her friends... They'd always had some plan, some purpose, and had been tracking her for quite a while. But this thing - it had appeared out of nowhere, she had no idea what it wanted to kill her for, and within a few minutes had almost killed everyone she held dear. The monster.  
  
"You!" she turned, eyes focused on Anguish.  
  
The creature merely looked back on her with the cold, empty eyes. "Ah, yes. The Staff is unfair. Is that where we were? I'm dreadfully sorry." In one swift movement, he lifted up the Staff, and snapped it in half with the merest of movements, and then threw the vanquished tool to the ground. It landed with a dull thud on the ground, and then vanished; the power of the gods was defeated.  
  
"What have you done?" Lina cried. "What is it that you want? Isn't there any purpose in what you do? You came here simply to destroy the most sought-after items in front of me, mocking me?"  
  
"Oh, no," laughed Anguish. "That wouldn't be right at a-"  
  
"HAH!" yelled Kyra, as she slammed her elbow into the creature's back. Anguish uttered a surprised squawk, and slammed into the ground below. Kyra motioned at Lina to run. "Hurry! I've moved the others to a safe location. It's true he wanted to hurt us by breaking the Staff here, but the breaking of the Staff is in itself very important. It means that apocalypse is already upon us, as you can see already, and that the world shall be split just like that Staff if evil isn't stopped."  
  
Kyra grabbed onto Lina, who was still trying to pull herself together, and did the shifting movement. Lina suddenly felt like she was in two separate places, and her body moved through space as if taking a shortcut. Almost-  
  
Suddenly, another dark blast flew through the air, very fast, and hit Lina. She gasped, and although she didn't feel intense pain, she felt as if a tiny bit of her soul had been burned away, like it was lacking something. Kyra had already disappeared; it seemed that the blast had caught the movement just when Lina was beginning to shift.  
  
"What is it you WANT?!" Lina demanded, not at all sure of herself.  
  
Anguish suddenly materialized a short distance from her, in the air. He was completely unharmed, though he looked vaguely amused. "You," he stated, and then shot the same type of enormous blast that Zelgadis and the others had almost gotten killed by.  
  
A hand grabbed hold of Lina's arm from behind. She shifted.  
  
Lina blinked. Her companions looked back at her, expressions of fear and worry on their faces. And surprisingly, Xellos was there as well.  
  
"Miss Lina!" Amelia cried, running forward. "I'm so glad you're all right!"  
  
Lina looked off into the distance; she could see Anguish as a speck, far away on the horizon. "It's all right," she reassured her.  
  
"Were you injured?" inquired Zelgadis.  
  
"No, everything's fine," lied Lina. She still felt the burning from the blast that had hit her - such cold evil... it was unbelievable.  
  
While Gourry and Filia also joined the hurried conversation with Lina, Xellos looked off at the speck that was Anguish, unusually silent. Kyra, as well, regarded the distant menace coldly.  
  
"I can feel its evil," Xellos whispered, mostly to himself. "Even the mozaku race doesn't have this kind of energy... its wrath is not of this world..."  
  
He had materialized in the small clearing the Slayers were in a short while after Kyra had shifted them there. Although he was away, mostly sulking, he felt an urgent sense of despair back where the Slayers were, and had teleported back to their location. Although they had been surprised, they had hastily filled him in on what had happened, while Kyra went back to rescue Lina.  
  
"You're right," Kyra nodded, surprising Xellos, who hadn't thought anyone was listening. "It's too ancient to be of this world."  
  
"But... what is it?" Xellos asked, cautiously.  
  
"It is the essence of evil, not truly an individual lifeform, if you can even begin to call it 'life'. It is merely made with the fabric of true evil - that which is called the Dark Brilliance. But you're a monster, are you not? Why should you care?"  
  
"Sore wa himitsu desu," Xellos managed to reply, although his voice trembled a bit. It's true - the purpose of the monster race was to destroy everything, and return it to chaos, but this being - it was simply wrong.... as if its very existence defied all natural laws. Even Xellos, normally so uncaring, felt a strong sense that Anguish had to be stopped.  
  
Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Filia rejoined the two, having had a brief discussion. "Are you going to help us, Xellos?" Lina asked, gesturing at the darkness that had long since swallowed the tranquility. "If you're against us now, you know that we're all doomed."  
  
"You'd better make the right decision, namagomi," Filia half-threatened, reaching for her mace. It was strange, but its gleaming spikes, normally so dangerous, seemed curiously to make the Slayers feel nostalgic, rather than frightened, against the growing darkness in the sky.  
  
Gourry, having been so silent for so long, suddenly smiled, causing everyone to stare at him. "Oh, c'mon. We don't have to be so harsh. We've fought battles like these before, haven't we?"  
  
Lina sighed. "I'm not so sure about that... I don't even know what it is that we're facing."  
  
"I'll aid you," Xellos stated bluntly, to the surprise of the others. "Lord Beastmaster had wanted me to investigate what the appearance of the Staff of the Gods meant, and now this... it would be my orders to fight against this thing, anyway. The mozaku race is meant to destroy the world, not THAT..."  
  
Zelgadis gritted his teeth. "Xellos! You bring up destroying the world at a time like this?!"  
  
Filia put back her mace. "Don't betray us," she said, loosely.  
  
Xellos looked like he was going to say something back, but suddenly, Kyra's eyes glittered dangerously.  
  
Another death-covered black blast soared toward the Slayers, and Kyra managed to put up a sky-blue ultra-barrier with a gesture of her hand. The darkness pushed against it, but her strength held, miraculously. "RUN!" she yelled.  
  
"Don't you think you've been talking long enough?" Anguish chuckled. "I thought I'd give you a few moments to make your reunion or whatever that was dramatic... but I've grown bored..."  
  
The Slayers took off, with Lina leading, and the others trailing behind her.  
  
"Where are we going?" Filia asked, her eyes glancing nervously at Anguish, behind them.  
  
"We can't stay together; that's for sure," yelled back Lina hurriedly. "We're much too easy targets if we're grouped!"  
Demonic energy soared through the air at the Slayers once again, somehow glittering black against the darkness.  
  
"Scatter!" Lina shouted, and they were barely able to move when the energy struck the ground again, rendering it unhealable as well.  
  
"This is ridiculous!" muttered Lina in exasperation as she fled again. "This enemy may seem to be unbelievably powerful, but I can't keep running like this forever! I... I have to face it."  
  
A wind picked up in the everlasting night, and it howled like a person going through horrible torture. Darkness as its source, it picked up, and blew savagely into the dead surroundings.  
  
Lina suddenly turned around, and, with determination glowing in her eyes, decided. She grimaced, and then yelled out to the creature, "I accept your challenge!"  
  
Anguish acknowledged this with interest, and another horrible laugh escaped his dead lips. Clearly, it had been expecting this all along. "Then let's try making things a bit more amusing now, shall we? Like, about these blasts... you all seem to be dodging them pretty easily - let's make them homing!" He grinned hideously.  
  
"What?" Lina managed to say, before twin blasts of energy, each one several times larger than before, hurtled towards her. The air crackled with pain - the unending decay and destruction was straining the very threads of matter.  
  
Zelgadis saw this event from a short distance away, and immediately began racing toward Anguish. There was no escape by hiding. He would catch that monster from behind...  
  
Gourry witnessed the event from afar; he'd run to Lina's side and help; it'd be just like all the other battles they'd had... he hoped...  
  
Amelia readied herself for a Ra Tilt, the most powerful attack in shamanism; she wanted to see just how powerful Anguish was...  
  
Filia began to call upon the powers of Ceipheed. For a creature of this darkness, perhaps a spell of the gods would be the solution...  
  
Xellos, the farthest away, began teleporting back as fast as he could... he would charge Anguish head on, and show the creature who the rightful destroyers were...  
  
And Kyra watched the entire event from above. After Anguish had overpowered her barrier, she had shifted above everything. She would aid the Slayers at the crucial moment if needed...  
  
The attack began. Lina cast twin Fireballs at the two approaching blasts, and then enabled a Ray Wing, flying as fast as she could towards Anguish. The two spells were harmlessly engulfed by the darkness, and the darkness followed her, the most perfect homing missiles.  
  
Gourry ran full-out, and managed to almost get to Lina. Turning around, he held his Sword of Light to the ready. It had absorbed spells before; perhaps it would be able to do so again.  
  
Lina let out a gasp of surprise when she saw him there. "No, go attack!" Gourry shouted as the blasts drew closer. Lina nodded, and then ran forth again. Anguish was only a tiny bit away, and he was still smiling, the cold, lifeless eyes as menacing as ever.  
  
Suddenly, a huge blast of energy exploded around Anguish; the Ra Tilt had hit its target, and the creature managed an expression of surprise before Zelgadis impaled it with his Astral Vine attack. The atmosphere, dark as nightmares, brightened a bit as the holy spell Chaotic Disintegrate hit Anguish with its full force. Finally, an enormous dark wave of energy struck the creature with its full force - Xellos's attack. The mozaku then impaled Anguish with his staff, as if to punctuate the variety of attacks.  
  
All of this had happened in a few seconds.  
  
"Get out of the way!" Lina yelled; Xellos and Zelgadis jumped aside, and ran to safety as Lina readied fired her amplified spell - "DRAGON SLAVE!"  
  
Even as the enormous blast of red energy coursed through the air, Lina knew that Anguish couldn't have died; he was too powerful, too invincible, too dark. Summoning the last of her strength, she managed to chant her final spell, with authority that a thousand bandits would have quailed under: "Sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heaven's bonds. Become one with my power, one with my body, and let us walk the path of destruction together. Power that can smash even the souls of the Gods! RAGNA BLADE" A full-powered Ragna Blade was suddenly held ready, in the trembling hands of the young sorceress.  
  
Gourry, in the meantime, was struggling with the twin blasts that were pushing hard against the Sword of Light; the darkness couldn't be absorbed, and the swordsman couldn't take the pressure much longer. "Agh!" he yelled, trying to force the energy in the other direction. Lina ran forward with her Blade of Darkness, and swung it, absorbing the dark energy.  
  
With one final cry, Lina Inverse hurled the chaotic energy into the explosions that were consuming Anguish's very being.  
  
"Clear out!" Kyra ordered from above, to everyone's surprise. "ULTIMA FLARE!" The enormous blast surged through the air, making the darkness glow brilliantly, and then it hit the ground.  
  
The ground exploded.  
  
It didn't just explode; it seemed to disintegrate entirely. The enormous amount of power had finally connected together, and the shamanism, black magic, and holy magic complemented each other's might, increasing in immense magnitudes. The air and space around them began to crackle uncontrollably from the amount of energy released, and small explosions began erupting everywhere. The planet trembled uncontrollably; it hadn't felt this magnitude of power since the battle against Darkstar, and even then, the energies were far different from now.  
  
Then, suddenly, the barrage's effects stopped. The smoke cleared. And Anguish was there. He was scorched terribly, and parts of his bones were visible. But his infinitely deep eyes were unharmed. To the Slayers' horror, they watched parts of him begin to heal almost immediately. The darkness he controlled swirled around him, and he used it to absorb into his being. His left arm, which was a battered, hanging mess, righted itself, and then all of the injuries healed.  
  
Just as suddenly, he slumped forward to his knees. Gourry, taking this opportunity, lunged forward, and with one swift movement, stabbed the Sword through Anguish into the holy ground.  
  
Suddenly, Anguish threw up his head and laughed, one last time, even as black darkness erupted from his mouth. "Don't you realize? Don't you see what you've done?" he choked, coughing up more dark energy. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! You're only part of a game; this is the first in the pattern! And all of the blasts you've fed me shall increase my master's strength. My purpose is fulfilled. I see now that I was never meant to kill you, Lina Inverse. I am the first pawn, the initiation of His plan. And as hell is my tool, I will never truly die. My essence now returns to the Dark Brilliance. And we shall meet again!"  
  
In an instant, the darkness erupted in its entirety, and terrible fear, hatred, greed, jealousy, wrath, frustration, desperation, and countless other negativities soured through the air in every direction.  
  
The Slayers, and Kyra, all dropped down to the ground at the power, their very souls feeling unbelievable pain and torment as they experienced all of mankind's negative emotions. The powerlessness was so total and complete - Lina had never felt it before, even fighting against Darkstar; it consumed every fibre of herself that wanted to stand up and fight. She wanted to give up when she felt the horrible energies.  
  
The dark energy shot upward, and a crackling black and red dimensional portal opened up. Even as the energy all swarmed in, everyone present knew what was happening. They would not face Anguish again - the Dark Brilliance knew that that creation was too weak. But they would face that essence again; it would be reused, but it would be far, far stronger.  
  
"Wait a second..." Zelgadis spoke up, breaking the silence first, although his eyes were clearly bloodshot with horror. "I know what pattern he's talking about now... this battle... it was almost entirely like... the battle with Copy Rezo. The way we attacked, the formations we used; although it was a far greater power we used, he died in exactly the same way. Just as Lina had pinned the Copy to the holy tree Flagoon with the Bless Blade, Gourry had pinned Anguish to the holy ground with the Sword of Light. It must... it must mean something!"  
  
The rest of the Slayers, however, couldn't respond. They all were seeing the image of Anguish's "death" again and again. It just wasn't right - he had laughed, laughed with triumph when he was defeated. And that was never meant to be...  
  
Kyra's eyes had lost their usual shine. She looked troubled, and she shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the horrible images. It was clear that she knew far more about the matter than what she had told the Slayers, but she wasn't ready to reveal it all yet. Even in her mind, she hadn't been prepared for the onslaught of Anguish, and his "glorious" defeat. The skull around her ponytail shimmered, and became a dagger. Her eyes gleamed all of a sudden, and she looked off into the far distance.  
  
"We've been through the First Hell," Lina whispered. "But knowing that, how will we ever survive the Second...?" 


	5. Final Journey

The Dark Brilliance  
Chapter 4: Final Journey  
  
"Sometimes walking toward death is foolish; at times, there is no solution."  
  
Lina's hair blew back in the breeze, carelessly and freely, completely opposite of the way she and her companions were feeling.  
  
It had been three days since she, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, Xellos, Filia, and Kyra had left the holy land, and although the sky had cleared up after Anguish had been killed, their hearts had remained as dark as if he was still alive, laughing at them. For that was what they all felt, an ebbing pain that the victory was not true.  
  
After the battle, Kyra had urged that there was no time to lose; they needed to find the temple of the most ancient origin as soon as possible. Kyra had insisted that the de-quintessence movement used before would not be able to locate the temple; it had to be found by sweat and blood alone, travelling only with their knowledge and instincts. They had built a ship, though admittedly not a very large one. Using magic, and Gourry's brute strength, it was made very swiftly, and Kyra's own magic made it shine with a purity not believed possible.  
  
But the darkness never left.  
  
Even Lina and Gourry didn't notice the lack of food much; if they wanted to eat, they could catch fish using magic, though no one seemed to care whether they ate or not. It was the most horrible sinking feeling they'd ever experienced; the scar left by Anguish was too great to be healed.  
  
No one spoke much either, except to Kyra about what the temple might be like. She claimed that she herself didn't know much, though sometimes the Slayers were doubtful.  
  
Xellos, so unused to having no control over the situation, and no place to teleport to, lapsed into an unusual quiet, which unnerved even more the other members of the group.  
  
"At any cost, that evil must be stopped," Lina whispered to herself, feeling the pain of the black blast for the thousandth time over.  
  
To her surprise, she felt Gourry's strong hand on her shoulder. She was glad that it hadn't lost the feeling of comfort that she'd always felt before from it. "It's all right," he reassured her, demonstrating unusual integrity. "We're all in this together. Even Xellos is sincere on this one, I think."  
  
Lina managed a weak smile. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."  
  
The breeze blew in a slow arc, ruffling the sails. Elsewhere, Zelgadis and Kyra were seen having a scene of their own.  
"Kyra, are you sure you know where we're going?" Zelgadis asked her, on the other side of the ship. "None of us but you have the faintest idea where we are. We don't even know the name of this sea, if this even is a sea."  
  
Kyra looked back from her position as clear captain of the ship. "Do not worry. We're nearly there, in any case."  
  
"W-we are?" Zelgadis asked, surprised. "So soon?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
And that was all. An awkward silence followed, and Zelgadis fidgeted uncomfortably. He couldn't help but eye the dagger around Kyra's ponytail warily. He was certain it hadn't been there before. "Um... shall I tell the others, then?" he asked.  
  
"Do as you wish. I need to concentrate."  
  
Zelgadis managed an awkward nod, and then retreated to another portion of the ship, any portion. Gee, you'd think I was joking all the time compared to that stone-faced expression that girl's giving out, he thought to himself.  
  
Amelia and Filia talked amongst themselves away from both of these meetings. They each made conversation about idle, unimportant things having nothing to do with the present mission. Obviously, it was only to take their mind off the task at hand. Unfortunately for them, their silence would soon be interrupted.  
  
"Oh, is there any news, Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia asked as the aforementioned walked briskly toward them, and Filia looked up as well.  
  
"It's Kyra. She says we're stopping soon," Zelgadis stated, looking a little ruffled.  
  
Filia blinked curiously. "Really? How soo-"  
  
"We're there," Kyra's voice somehow boomed over the whole ship, her voice strong with importance. Her hair glistened in the deepening twilight; there was definitely some magic in the air.  
  
Xellos teleported into the area suddenly, nearly knocking over Zelgadis in the process.  
  
Zelgadis stumbled.  
  
Amelia rushed over to help him.  
  
Filia surveyed the scene, debating whether or not to scold Xellos.  
  
Lina and Gourry ran onto the scene from their secluded location.  
  
All six of the Slayers stared at one another. Nothing had happened.  
  
Lina peered over the edge of the ship. Just water in all directions. "Um, what exactly does 'we're there' mean?"  
  
"Are you sure we've arrived?" Xellos asked Kyra as she appeared on the scene.  
  
For some reason, Kyra had her eyes closed. The dagger around her ponytail glistened, and then disappeared. Her sky-blue hair blew freely in the wind, which was picking up for some reason, now that she'd arrived.  
  
The others lapsed into silence as she began to chant some sort of spell or prophecy.  
  
"Born of chaos, oldest of the old. On which this planet thrives. That which holds the key the vanquishing the most ancient evil. Let your purifying dagger be revealed, so that the horror which has encased this earth will be lifted!"  
  
With those words, the waves that had rippled slowly along the ship began to increase in speed and size, and they turned to solid black. Every once in a while, a line of gold glistened like the moon upon a quiet forest on the pitch-black water.  
  
The Slayers looked on in wonder, until the eruption. The savage water suddenly tore upward, clawing at the sky with unparalleled ferocity. It formed a devastating column around the ship, its volume completely encasing the ship inside, like a gigantic circular vortex. Surprisingly, there had been no sudden force that threw the passengers back; it was as if the event had been planned for eternity to occur flawlessly. Still, the Slayers were dumbfounded at the sudden happening. The humans, dragon, and demon alike had seen nothing of its like before.  
  
Only the perfect goddess stared out into the black column of water with unwavering clear eyes. "Anata ishota gaureli tresaka kyra," Kyra shouted into the darkness.  
  
"'Kyra'?" Lina asked in confusion, wondering how her companion's name could be part of this unknown ritual. However, all thoughts of this escaped her mind as she realized something horrible. The column of water was no longer staying a column.  
  
Some screamed, some looked on in horror, and some regarded the happening with resolute determination. In any case, all seven companions were engulfed by the chaotic water, and all of it gleamed a brilliant gold before the ship was completely capsized. From the outside, the water then returned to normal, the waves innocently rippled naturally again. The event had never occurred.  
  
***  
  
Lina groaned. She felt like a million bricks had fell on her, the darkness spreading like wildfire until she lapsed into unconsciousness.  
  
She opened her eyes. And stared with wide astonishment at the scene that lay before her.  
  
Great beasts made of energy roared and flew across the pitch-black sky that stretched infinitely in every direction. The thin piece of land that she was on was suspended in nothingness, the only island in an otherwise limitless empty void.  
  
Ahead, there was a building. An ancient one. A titanic one. It, too, stretched out into the distance as far as the eye could see, though it was thin just like the land itself. It was almost like some bizarre product of the imagination, the goal just ahead. There were no mazes, no endless wandering. There were no split paths, no traps, and no detours. There was no light.  
  
There was only what lay ahead, the ultimate destination, and the ultimate obstacle.  
  
The others were sprawled on the ground near her, still unconscious. At least, 5 of the others. Kyra stood at the very edge of the piece of hovering land, her eyes seeming to follow the path and behavior of one of the energy beasts. Lina wondered what she was doing, and what those energy beasts were for.  
  
"Agh, where are we?" Zelgadis muttered, getting awkwardly to his feet. His reactions were similar to Lina's as he surveyed the new landscape. He sighed. "Looks like we've gotten ourselves into another mess."  
  
Kyra turned. "So, you're awake?" she asked calmly, as if as an afterthought.  
  
"Kyra, what just happened?" Lina asked.  
  
Zelgadis nodded. "You told us that you didn't know much about this temple that you speak of." He gestured with his hand toward the huge structure that lay before them. "How do you explain knowing the exact procedure to get here, wherever 'here' is?"  
  
Kyra sighed. "I'm afraid I can't tell you this until this is all over. Or until it is absolutely necessary. Whichever comes first."  
  
"What happened?" Filia asked, still a bit dizzy. The other three regained consciousness shortly, also gazing in wonder at their surroundings.  
  
"LOOK OUT!" Kyra suddenly shouted, her eyes flashing with urgency.  
  
Lina looked around frantically. "What-"  
  
"Get DOWN!" Everyone threw themselves onto the ground, and a familiar feeling horrible black blast flew over their heads. But it felt stronger - far stronger. The energy beasts let out fierce roars as they felt the presence of the energy.  
  
"What in-" Amelia gasped, her eyes widening with terror as she locked her eyes on a dark figure hovering above the temple.  
  
The seven got to their feet, and Gourry drew his sword in a flash as the others charged up spells. Xellos powered up, and darkness exploded from him as his staff glowed with hatred, hatred that hadn't glinted in his eyes since his encounters with Gaav. Seriousness that hadn't flooded his essence since the battle with Darkstar.  
  
"I will not stand aside and allow you disgusting beings to threaten the mozaku race any longer!" Xellos yelled in a manner entirely unlike himself. With amazing speed, he teleported and ran threw the air until he was close enough to the figure to get a clear shot.  
  
"We mustn't hold back!" Amelia shouted, remembering their battle with Anguish. The others nodded, and fired their spells toward the figure as well. She fired a blue blast toward the new enemy, presumably a shamanism spell. Lina and Zelgadis shouted "Ray Wing!" and flew with bullet-like speed toward their mysterious opponent, firing Fireballs all the way.  
  
At the same time, Kyra let out a yell as she fired a huge blast at the target with deadly accuracy. Filia fired a holy blast along with it, and the two projectiles converged, shining as it cruised like a missile.  
  
"Hyah!" Gourry yelled, his face dead serious. He wasn't about to stand around being useless, and had been practicing shooting projectiles with his Sword of Light. The blast that was released was better than he'd expected, taking its place with the other spells that blasted through the air.  
  
Xellos swung his staff horizontally with a fierce slash, and thousands of black cones erupted from him, each one like a needle that would gorge the opponent. He then fired a blast from his staff, and teleported all around the diameter of the dark figure, continuing his barrage.  
  
While Zelgadis continued to pelt the enemy with Fireballs, Lina charged up a familiar spell - the Dragonslave. The darkness coursed through the air, the largest blast of all.  
  
The figure didn't move as the attacks almost reached him. He then suddenly held up his hand. Instantly, the seven attackers were paralyzed. Then were completely frozen in position, although they were perfectly aware of what was going on. The Slayers and Kyra could only watch what their efforts had come to.  
  
They were able to see the dark figure more closely now, but it was both cloaked and hooded in black, as well, so they hadn't any idea what it looked like.  
  
The enemy stopped all of Xellos's cones and the Fireballs in mid-air, seemingly only with will-power. They hung there in an unreal fashion, as the Slayers watched in horror. He held out his two hands as the spells that the Slayers had all charged up in the beginning were almost on top of him. He brought his hands together, and the attacks suddenly all converged into one and stopped. As Amelia's spell, Kyra and Filia's combination spell, and Gourry's projectile attack shot toward him, he held out one finger, and swatted each individual one away like flies, the spells shooting backwards in the other direction. He vanished, suddenly appearing a tiny bit lower as the Dragonslave passed harmlessly overhead. He snapped his fingers, and dark energy coursed out from him. Every piece of energy that had been blasted at him suddenly shot together into one immense energy ball. The darkness that exploded from him formed into a huge gaping mouth, and it ate the energy, vanishing back into its owner. Instantly, the Slayers and Kyra felt the increase in power. Their attacks had only made their opponent stronger.  
  
With a flick of his wrist, the figure made Xellos, Lina, and Zelgadis's motionless bodies fly back to the original platform, coliding with Kyra, Gourry, Amelia, and Filia. With another motion, they could all suddenly move again. Still, they knew that it wouldn't do much good to try another attack like that with what had just happened.  
  
The figure removed its hood, and he seven companions stared with wide-eyed horror. The eyes were even more dark and empty than Anguish's, and the face was twisted and grotesque. The figure hung in the air with the smell of death about him, and the completely black cloak blew in the nonexistant wind. He was definitely made of the same stuff as their previous opponent. He laughed suddenly, and the complete and utter evil in that voice made Lina want to curl up and die. Anything but this. Anything but even more darkness.  
  
The Slayers all moved their heads to look into their enemy's eyes, as they were controlled once again. The eyes again. They were so emotionless, so horrible....  
  
"Well, that was certainly a great way to make your acquaintance, don't you think?" he asked. "But I have a better way. Why not start by introducing ourselves? I am the Second of the Three that serve our master. I see that Anguish has failed pathetically; he never was good enough to take care of anything." He paused, as if letting the "introductions" sink in. "And by the way, my name is Pain. Allow me to show you why!"  
  
Lina was the first to scream. Convulsions took over her body, and red energy coursed over her as she was completely covered by pain. L-sama, let me die! she thought desperately as the total torture continued. It was unending. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. She couldn't even see the others as her vision clouded over with red, but they were having similar experiences. Never before had any of them felt so powerless.  
  
But Kyra stood tall, and she broke herself of Pain's spell. She seemed far stronger than ever before, stronger than when they had faced Anguish.  
  
"What the?" Pain asked in surprise. "Who are you?" He snapped his fingers, and the Slayers suddenly slumped over in agony, their torture finally ceasing.  
  
"Not so fast!" Kyra yelled, her voice rising as her sky-blue hair and eyes, along with her shimmering white cloak, glowed with a radience that they'd never done before. "First tell me, what have you done with those guardians?!" She pointed furiously at the energy beasts which were flying in the sky overhead.  
  
Pain smirked. "I banished them. They stood in my way, much like you are!"  
  
"You cannot banish these sacred guardians! They are the powers of Ice, Water, Wind, and Fire themselves!" Kyra protested with her powerful voice. The Slayers couldn't move much, but they took in every word that they could hear.  
  
"Oh, really?" Pain asked. "Then, would you like to have them BACK?!" With his last word, one of the guardians suddenly swooped down from the sky, landing with a loud rumble on the ground before the temple. The energy that coursed around it was green, and gusts of unbelieveable power blew around it. It roared, starting a green tornado that raced towards Kyra.  
  
Kyra backhanded the energy, sending the shimmering tornado off into the infinite reaches of the darkness above them. "You disgusting creature!" she raged at Pain. "You've taken over these guardians entirely, and disrupted all balance that is supposed to be kept here. I can sense it! Not only have you taken over their minds and bodies, you've stolen their souls; now they can never return to their rightful purpose!"  
  
Lina stirred on the ground, though she was far from being able to sit up. "Guardians?" she muttered quietly, wondering what was going to happen. And Kyra... when had she gotten so strong?  
  
"I can't help it if they love their new master," Pain replied, laughing as black energy erupted from him. "But if you want to stand in my way, I'll be glad to prove their loyalty!"  
  
With a snap of his fingers, he sent the Wind Guardian rampaging towards Kyra. She braced herself against the gusts of green light that coursed her way, and managed to fire a blast down on the guardian, causing it to roar even louder.  
  
"This is no time for your stupid games!" Kyra yelled. "Do you expect me to face each one of these guardians one by one?!?" She suddenly turned to the Slayers, slumped on the ground. "Divine Heal!" she shouted, and the six on the ground were healed to their maximum.  
  
"Wow, I've never felt this way after a healing spell before," Gourry commented, good as new. "Let's attack those guardian things!"  
  
Kyra dodged to the left as anther piece of green energy shot in a spiral towards her. "No, don't attack the guardians! Time is running out; the Dark Brilliance could already be starting his final plan!"  
  
"The Dark... Brilliance...? What's that?" Amelia asked.  
  
Filia put up a shield as a precaution, and Zelgadis reinforced it.  
  
"The Dark Brilliance is the Master behind these demonic beings!" Kyra shouted. "But now is not the time! Lina, cast the Giga Slave right away!"  
  
"What?!" Lina asked, taken aback. She hadn't even known that Kyra knew about the Giga Slave. "But... the world could be destroyed!"  
  
Kyra fired a huge energy blast at the Wind Guardian, and at Pain's instructions, the Fire Guardian coursed out of the sky in a brilliant display of red as well. "It WILL be destroyed if you don't cast the spell! It is essential to me!"  
  
"But..."  
  
"Cast it! NOW!" Kyra ordered. She fired three blasts at Pain, but he effortlessly blocked them all. A fiery whip lashed through the air at her, and she leapt backwards in the air. As the wind suddenly increased to the point of a hurricane, she let out a fierce cry that sent the guardians stumbling backwards, though they immediately recovered, charging again.  
  
Lina didn't argue. She could sense the urgency, and besides, there was nothing else to try...  
  
"Miss Lina, please be careful..." Amelia said, and the others nodded, showing their concern.  
  
"Don't worry. I will," she said, and then stepped forward a few steps, facing Pain, who was watching her. It was now or never. The air tensed up and darkened as she began her ominous chant. "Darkness beyond blackest pitch...." she began, dark energy now coursing through her as well. "Deeper than the deepest night..."  
  
"You WILL NOT stop my plans!" Pain shouted, and fired an enormous black blast at Lina. Kyra was too preoccupied with her battles, the Slayers couldn't react fast enough and weren't powerful enough, and the red-haired sorceress was rooted in place with her incantation.  
  
The darkness enveloped Lina, and she felt like she was suspended in nothingness for a second. But then it suddenly cleared. It had only fueled her attack, for the Giga Slave was the blast that symbolized all darkness.  
  
Pain scowled, and he sent the guardians of ice and water flew down from the sky, heading directly towards Lina. He let out a yell, and energy of the darkest power erupted from him as twin wings that dripped blood red. He powered up, and all could see the horror that he held; Anguish was a child compared to the power that their new enemy wielded. His form crackled with blood-red energy.  
  
"King of darkness!" Lina continued, her voice rising in a powerful crescendo. "Who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos!" Energy erupted from her, and the ice and water guardians were thrown back in her wake. "I pledge myself to thee!"  
  
"NO!" Pain shouted, and with the flaring of his eyes, the Slayers collapsed in horrible torture again. Pain. Pain everywhere. Their bodies were being broken apart. Every fiber of their beings burned with a horrible demonic PAIN.  
  
But Lina still stood. The darkness that was covering her whisked away the pain to fuel itself. "Swear myself to thee!" The Ice Guardian showered hail upon her, but it did nothing to stop the ultimate spell. "Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed, by the power you and I possess!!!"  
  
Lina realized that she hadn't called upon the talismans for power. She also realized that it didn't matter. It was the only chance, the only small chance; either it worked or it didn't. She lifted the endless column of energy above her, the chaotic energy fueled by the darkness around them. The perfect spell. The most horrible spell. As the weight of it began to feed at her soul, Lina readied herself to use her last strength to send the energy towards Pain.  
  
Suddenly, everyone stopped. The guardians. The Slayers. Pain. For the power of the Giga Slave was being controlled, and not by Lina. That someone made a gesture, and the Giga Slave shot in their direction. It obeyed like a dog on a leash, back to its rightful owner.  
  
Kyra was commanding it, and her sky-blue eyes shone with a resolution that she'd never shown before.  
  
"It is time that you all learned the truth!" she shouted, and all eyes were on her as the energy coursed into her, not destroying her. She slowly lowered her head, and then snapped it up again, only this time, her hair was not sky blue.  
  
It was golden. Energy crackled around her, and her power was limitless. She spoke with a clear, resounding voice, as she fully made her way back onto their world once again. "You, who think you are darkness," she said, her eyes fixed on Pain as he stepped back a little. "You, who think you are part of perfection. How dare you stand against the Mother of All Things!"  
  
Pain growled, and he fired the huge blast of pure darkness that he'd been forming at the Lord of Nightmares. It was absorbed by her, causing nothing. He shouted an order, and all four guardians charged at her.  
  
"I hand back your souls," she stated, and suddenly, Pain yelled in surprise and terror. From the place his heart should be, four pieces of energy erupted, and were absorbed by their respective guardians. Fire, Ice, Wind, and Water vanished instantly, knowing that they were not to interfere.  
  
"She has truly appeared yet again..." Xellos whispered in disbelief. "The Mother of All Things has been travelling with us all along..."  
  
"Kyra?" Lina managed, gasping. "Y-you're...."  
  
"There is no Kyra," L-sama replied. "I never appear on this world with all my power unless there is need, but these events are too important for their creator to ignore!" She turned back to Pain. "You were never created by me! Darkness like yourself was never meant to be created, even by the seeds of chaos!"  
  
Gourry, Amelia, Filia, and Zelgadis could only watch in silence and awe as the events unfolded.  
  
But suddenly, Pain, who had had his head down since the guardians had been destroyed, threw back his head in triumphant laughter once more. "You all still fail to understand! With my master's plan, it will not matter! And the pattern that is repeating is merely a game to him! Every move of yours has been predictable; I can still move you like pawns!"  
  
The truth of what Pain said dawned on the Slayers instantly. "Phibrizzo..." Amelia whispered, tensing up, and Filia could only nod, having not been in that horrible battle.  
  
"That's right! Aren't I Phibrizzo, just as Anguish was Copy Rezo?" Pain boomed, surprising Amelia. "It will all end the way my master plans!"  
  
"Then as you are Hellmaster, so you shall die the same way," L-sama stated, her eyes devoid of emotion. Only a clarity and truth beyond anything that was on that world could be seen shining from her.  
  
She held out her hand in front of her. At that moment, Pain fired all of his power at her, the attack which he'd been charging up during the entire battle.   
  
And at the same moment, he charged in one final stand.  
___________________________________________________________________________  
  
Note from Author: Whew! Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been remarkably busy, and this story is really hard to maintain realism in, especially when one type of darkness is compared with another. Don't worry, though; I'll see this fic through to the end. And speaking of the end, none of you will be disappointed. Please continue to R & R! 


	6. Maze Through Fate

The Dark Brilliance  
Chapter 5: Maze Through Fate  
  
"Every way I turn, every way I look, there is a wall, a barricade, a trap. This is no fairy tale. This time, there is no escape."  
  
The Lord of Nightmares closed her eyes in a gesture of sealing fate. The enormous black ball of energy that sped toward her was absorbed; she did not flinch, for the Mother of All Things included being composed of darkness as well.  
  
Pain gathered a sword made of his own perfect darkness into his hands, and made a mad stab at L-sama, trying one last desperate ploy. But it was in vain. L-sama held up her hand, and Pain stopped in place, the black sword of despair vanishing away into the limitless void that was that place.  
  
"Your master is wise to let you die like this," the Lord of Nightmares commented emotionlessly, her eyes reflecting nothing. She held out her other hand, forming a spear of golden light that blazed the radiance that was her own. "But if it is destiny that the plan should unfold that way, surely you wouldn't want to deny the privilege."  
  
She stabbed the spear through Pain, clear through, and dark energy erupted from both sides of the monster. Pain smiled. "Darkness will consume everything eventually. You may be able to stop me, but it is for a higher purpose that you are. My master is invincible." He coughed up blood, black blood. As the darkness dribbled down his chin, he laughed as the energy consumed him, the demon vanishing under a bright flash of golden might.  
  
The Slayers cowered on the ground in pain that seemed an eternity as their opponent exploded in a blast of darkness, just as Anguish had. But the bleak hopelessness that they felt was painful tenfold. They were thrown to the ground by the indescribable evil, clutching their bodies desperately, trying to keep themselves from going mad with the emotion of pure despair.  
  
Somewhere, far away within the fabrics of the realm they were in, the Guardians roared with dissatisfaction; they felt the ancient presence that was dissipating, and they knew that for as long as they had existed, it was never meant to be that such power and evil was about.  
  
His eyes. Pain's eyes. Even as he was vanishing into endless nothingness, it appeared to be bit by bit, cell by cell. His body was still there, although it was being eaten away by L-sama's power. His pitch-black cloak ripped off in the golden wind, consumed by light. But his eyes. They were horribly empty, yet somehow leering and triumphant. Red and black power continued to dissipate from him, as if he had too much wrath to be destroyed so easily. Darkness beyond blackest pitch dripped from Pain, and then a new wave of force erupted from him, sending the Slayers into a new realm of torture. "Even as I die, you will all suffer one last time!" he vowed, and his black laughter echoed, echoed, echoed....  
  
Amelia screamed in pain; it was far worse than when she had died at the hands of Phibrizzo. She even preferred it. Let me die, she thought as new waves of pain consumed her. The others, too, were starting to give up. Pain's power was too strong, not just a stab of darkness like Anguish's. It didn't ever seem to end.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares closed her hand into a fist, and all of a sudden, the light around Pain grew in authority, and the Slayers' torture below was ended. The last thing to go was Pain's eyes, the eyes that were even more sunken and destructive than Anguish's, which gleamed impossibly black in the depths of the golden purity. And then he was gone.  
  
"Get up," stated L-sama, and the Slayers, to their surprise, suddenly all got instantly to their feet. They felt as good as new, fully healed. Reborn again, they were ready to walk to their deaths yet another time.  
  
Zelgadis let out a deep sigh. "Another nightmare... don't tell me it'll get any worse...."  
  
"It will," the Lord of Nightmares replied unblinkingly. "But we must face it without hesitation."  
  
Xellos's eyes gleamed with odd determination, although he knew himself to be pretty much useless in a fight at that point. Filia felt the same way, that her holy spells paled in comparison to the darkness that could consume everything. "Don't try anything rash once we get into that temple, namagomi," she whispered to Xellos, surprisingly.  
  
"It's all right," Xellos replied. "Besides, Lord Beastmaster wouldn't be happy if her lead servant was destroyed, now would she?" He managed a smile.  
  
Gourry stretched out his healed limbs. "I'm not sure what's going on anymore, but I do know one thing," he announced. "We can't give up. Even if this Dark Brilliance thing is a million times stronger, if we stop fighting, then we'll lose no matter what."  
  
"Well said, Gourry," Zelgadis commented. "We mustn't lose our spirit."  
  
Amelia had been feeling oddly useless. It was like that time, an eternity ago, when they had all been separated by the huge explosion at the place of Darkstar's summoning. Am I the weakest again? she asked herself desperately, remembering what she had thought when she was healing. Still, hearing the confident words of Gourry and Zelgadis reassured her, and brought her more strength. She was ready.  
  
Lina had been silent. She gazed in wonder at the Lord of Nightmares. "So, you are the Golden Lord," she said, with strength in her voice. "It's the first time I've truly seen you, in this secret place. I'm glad you can come into this world of your own accord this time. But if you are truly the Lord of Nightmares, you must know. Is there any way we can win?"  
  
The Lord of Nightmares gazed levelly back, her face betraying nothing. "That is for you six to find out. Go into the temple, and conquer your worst fears."  
  
Lina nodded, though dissatisfied with the answer. The six companions walked toward the entrance of the seemingly endless ancient temple with renewed determination, although each knew that the situation was getting more and more hopeless.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares landed neatly on the ground, her golden hair sparkling brilliantly with her aura even on the pitch-black island that floated on nothing. She walked forward, a short distance behind the Slayers. "Do not be afraid. Enter the temple with clear minds and strong hearts, for there are dangers there that even I do not know of, and I fear that the last of the Three will not sit idly once he discovers his brother has been destroyed."  
  
Lina walked into the temple first, followed closely behind by Xellos, who was able to cope with the darkness the easiest. The other four soon followed, ready to cast a spell, or slash with a sword.  
  
Immediately, there was a wall in front of them which blocked their progress, with paths leading left and right from where they were standing into the dark reaches of the unknown.  
  
"Stay here," Lina said, casting a Levitation spell. "I'm going to see exactly what kind of place this is." She floated above the wall, being careful not to hit her head on the ceiling in case it came sooner than she expected. "Lighting!" she chanted, and as the light lit up the area all around her, her eyes widened with confusion and horror.  
  
For what she was seeing was impossible. Constructed from chaos, oldest of the old, the temple in which the Slayers and the Lord of Nightmares stood was built of stuff that humans cannot comprehend. What Lina witnessed is not possible under the reaches of the human mind to perceive...  
  
As the redheaded sorceress looked out upon the landscape, she saw a labyrinth. An endless labyrinth that stretched out further than infinity. Paths snaked around each other, beginning sooner than the wall they emerged from ended. It was interconnected, crossed, twisted, overlapping, and paths went square through the matter of another, the spare atoms that were left over from the transformation shooting off into the further, invisible darkness. Even below, from where there had been two simple paths leading off, the paths were now seen to be simply not there. They were replaced by a billion possibilities, and the probabilities made them warp to be billions of miles away. Walls chased paths, the darkness throbbed, and the landscape changed and changed and changed.  
  
But that was not the unperceivable portion. Perhaps a genius or a brilliant scientist could work out the workings of probability through the most advanced mathematics known, could investigate the formations of atoms and examine their origins, could see the walls and paths and draw a conclusion. Perhaps.  
  
But no one could ever understand what Lina saw. For as Lina looked cautiously upward, she saw the same thing, only magnified, crossed, intertwined in impossible formations with the structure on the ground. From the sky, diagonal walls shot down from the unseeable beyond, and warped into a path on the ground. Paths also snaked their ways into the sky, and then vanishing within each other, warping and transforming so that every time the sorceress turned her head, a completely different formation was seen. Paths were going through her, walls shooting past her. A labyrinth that surpassed the capabilities of three dimensions, the maze continued to intertwine and turn until it wound itself into the distance, into herself, into nothing.  
  
She lost consciousness. She fell. She fell through the walls, the paths, the ground. Lina Inverse was absorbed into the temple that wasn't to be.  
  
Far below, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, Xellos, and Filia watched what was happening to Lina with amazement. For while one moment, she was floating there normally with a Lighting spell, the next, she had flew in every direction at the same time, the parts of her being zipping onward into the infinite beyond.  
  
"What the? What in the world happened?" Filia asked, bewildered.  
  
Xellos staggered back a little, gripping the staff he carried tighter, glancing cautiously in every direction, while Zelgadis and Gourry drew their swords.  
  
Amelia looked around in vain for Lina's whereabouts, wondering what sort of holy spell could possibly work.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares knew what had happened. "This place," she thundered. "Humans were not meant to come here! You have to get through this temple as soon as possible, or you will all be absorbed, and then tortured by your own fears!"  
  
She fired a beam of golden light from her limitless essence, and as she did, her golden aura grew tremendously, so that the Slayers almost collapsed from the power. The light went into the sky, exploding in a billion ways, and the magic falling onto the walls. The structure groaned, and some of the walls exploded, making ways for paths that snaked their way through the debris. From the sky above, new walls fell with great speed. "Go!" she ordered, as she held out her hand to summon another bit of power.  
  
Gourry took off down the path where the wall used to be, whipping out his Sword of Light to hack at the bits of wall that were threatening to crush him. The temple's anger kept up with his movements every step of the way, but still he ran.  
  
Amelia and Filia ran down the left path, and the ground they were standing on began to move. "Chaotic Disintegrate!" Filia yelled, firing the holy blast into the ground. The path was temporarily subdued, and Amelia fired a Fireball spell at the bits of wall that were crumbling all around them. They continued to fight their way through the ancient temple, hoping against hope that holy magic would be enough to subdue their surroundings.  
  
"Astral Vine!" yelled Zelgadis, taking off down the right path as all this was happening. The crimson sword that gleamed in his hand was able to destroy a wall that stood in his way, and he dropped to the ground and rolled as another bit of wall and a winding path snaked its way toward him. He narrowly dodged it, and used his free hand to destroy the things with a shamanism spell.  
  
Xellos used his teleportation techniques to race as fast as he could down the center of the temple, not even spotting Gourry as he passed him. More than one time, a wall almost crushed him as he landed in his new location after a teleport. He fired beams of energy with his staff to clear his way. He spotted a path that was snaking downward from the sky out of the corner of his eye, and destroyed it by flaring his evil power.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares expanded her golden aura once more. "Evil temple! If you will not recognize me for the Creator I am, I shall see to it that you are destroyed myself! Your methods of confusion work nothing on the Mother of All Things." Her eyes not flickering one bit, she let herself be absorbed by the temple.  
  
Filia and Amelia were separated as a huge wall fell downwards between them, and though they scrambled to get back next to each other, new paths and walls wound violently through each other in an attempt to crush them. The endless temple was determined to isolate the intruders so that it could destroy them properly.  
  
Filia let out a yell, transforming into her dragon form. As she flew with renewed speed into the darkness ahead, she fired lasers from her mouth to destroy anything in her path. Her tail swatted aside any spare bits of rock behind her.  
  
Zelgadis gasped in pain as a path slammed into his stomach. He used his sword to frantically cut the thing to bits, but the damage was done. He breathed less easily, but he still managed to keep running. "RA TILT!" he yelled, destroying any bits of the nightmare around him. However, the dark power that the temple wielded would not be dissuaded. With renewed force, the walls came down faster and faster, and the paths zoomed through the walls, causing debris to rain down upon the stone-skinned warrior. A rock fragment slammed into his chest, and then another into his back. Zelgadis coughed up blood, and then, collapsing, was absorbed finally into the temple.  
  
Gourry, for all his expert swordsmanship, couldn't keep up as the temple increased the level of its frenzy, more and more paths and walls exploding out from the sky, the ground, empty air. It and wound in a continuously confusing manner. Gourry handled the Sword of Light with unbelievable speed, destroying every little bit of rock as it zoomed by. "Give back Lina!" he cried, as he let a powerful projectile explode from his Sword. The blue blast disintegrated the danger near him, but then the temple speeded up still more. A wall fell down from above, and as it crushed him under, he lost consciousness. Gourry was absorbed.  
  
Filia was still managing herself pretty well, the fast zoom of flying giving her a high advantage by avoiding all of the chaos down on the ground. Even as the walls and paths began to pick up speed, she was able to maneuver past them, and her laser breath continuously cleared the way. Still, she was beginning to tire. How long could she keep up?  
  
As Gourry and Zelgadis fell, Xellos teleported with amazing dexterity with increased fervor. The mozaku suddenly realized something - the temple still looked the same. Everything about it was exactly the same, except that now the entrance wasn't visible. Was there really an exit? He fired thousands of black cones from his body in all directions, and they destroyed some paths that were threatening to smash into him from behind, as well as the walls in front of him. He held his staff at the ready. "What are you?" he yelled in frustration. "Don't underestimate my power!" He flared up his black aura, and the stuff around him was disintegrated yet again, but this time, it was to no avail. The walls and paths that came in endlessly from every direction were too many to be handled. As Xellos was struck from every direction, he let out a pained gasp, and then was absorbed.  
  
"I can't keep up with this much longer!" Amelia cried, firing shamanism spells in every direction. Even the Ra Tilt only cleared the way for still more of the design to come rushing at her. A sharp piece of wall stabbed at her thigh from behind, and she fell to the ground, gasping. Cringing, Amelia managed to start casting a healing spell. But she wasn't fast enough. Another piece of wall hit the back of her head, and she was absorbed as well.  
  
Filia knew now that the situation was hopeless. She didn't even believe that she was gaining any ground, no matter how fast she flew. Everything in the endless labyrinth looked the same. Her wings got more and more tired, and after she fired one last laser breath, she collapsed to the ground. The last Slayer was absorbed.  
  
***  
  
Lina woke up. She looked all around her, wondering what had happened, and vaguely remembered the temple, though she couldn't remember what she'd seen. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, and wondered where the others could possibly be. "Hello?" she called, seeing if anyone was around.  
  
Immediately, two ENORMOUS red eyes opened, and glinted evilly in the darkness. For the first time, Lina noticed that the ground under her was squishy, almost like a living thing. And as she opened her mouth in horror, she beheld the twin eyes blinking at her with caution. She gulped. "Lighting..." she forced herself to choke, and as the light illuminated the surrounding area, she let out a bloodcurdling scream.  
  
She had been standing on a giant slug, a colossal one. As she looked behind her, she saw that she couldn't even see the end of the slug she was on, which was at least 10,000 times larger than her. "L-sama help me..." she breathed, trying to get a hold of herself.  
  
The slug opened its gaping mouth wide, and the sorceress could see Gourry inside. "Gourry!" she yelled in desperation, but even as she struggled to get closer, the slug let out a roar, and she was blown back by the power.  
  
Lina gazed up at the slug, terrified beyond belief. "What is this place? What do you want?" she screamed.  
  
Phibrizzo's face suddenly came into view, dancing in the shadows near her. "Hopeless as always..." he chuckled, the soul orbs dancing dangerously in his hands. "Why didn't you save them? Why couldn't you save them when they died?"  
  
"W-What are you talking about?" Lina staggered back in horror.  
  
"Don't you remember?" Hellmaster chuckled, as he tossed the orbs up and down idly. Suddenly, Lina was surrounded by the memories of all of her companions dying, dying, dying. She collapsed to her knees, fighting Hellmaster's magic, struggling to get a hold of her mind. "Let's watch them die again, shall we?"  
  
Lina screamed in protest, clutching her head in pain. The gigantic slug roared, and Gourry yelled out, "Why didn't you save me? Why are you letting this happen to all of us?"  
  
Phibrizzo laughed and laughed, and Lina couldn't do much but accept her torture.  
  
***  
  
Gourry fought back hard, matching his opponent at every turn, but his heart ate away at him.  
  
"What's the matter, Gourry? Can't win?" Zangulus taunted.  
  
Gourry gritted his teeth, and he suddenly felt his skill slipping. Zangulus was getting the better of him... wasn't he supposed to be an ally? He couldn't remember... what was happening... "WHO ARE YOU?!" Gourry yelled. He had to rescue Lina, Lina was imprisoned... she was gone somewhere...  
  
Zangulus laughed, dropping the Howling Sword to the ground. Gourry slashed at his opponent in vain, each hit of the Sword of Light bouncing harmlessly off. "I'm your defeat!" he laughed, and as Gourry watched in amazement, he transformed into the Demon Dragon King.  
  
The Howling Sword flew up off the ground into Gaav's hand, and as it did, it transformed into Gaav's huge sword. "Why don't you try beating me again to get to Lina Inverse? Hellmaster won't save you this time!" he roared.  
  
Gourry, not knowing what else to do, stabbed at Gaav with his Sword of Light. Gaav caught the Sword effortlessly, and then uppercutted Gourry, sending him sprawling backwards. "You'll never win! Insolent worm!" he laughed, flaring up his power.  
  
***  
  
"RA TILT!" Zelgadis yelled with all his might, but to no avail. The explosion did nothing to harm his opponent, and it was only absorbed.  
  
Rezo laughed at him. "Will treatment like this earn you a cure, Zelgadis?" he chuckled. "I would've thought you'd have more manners!"  
  
Zelgadis let out a roar, charging with his sword again, and stabbed it straight through Rezo. His eyes slowly widened with horror as he saw that Rezo was unaffected, even with the sword going straight through his body. Zelgadis staggered back, with the sword still impaled in Rezo.  
  
"How foolish..." Rezo muttered, holding out his hand, making the sword fly out of his body and into it. He was entirely unhurt. "Perhaps we should reshape the way you look. That golem look really doesn't suit you!" With that, he threw the sword towards Zelgadis.  
  
Zel managed to dodge it, moving quickly over to the left. Rezo immediately attacked him from behind, firing a barrage of spells that made Zelgadis collapse to the ground, gasping. "You won't win again!" Zelgadis vowed. Although he didn't know where he was, he was desperate to get his revenge.  
  
"Hm," Rezo said, and then with a flare of his power, caused Zelgadis to cry out in pain once again.  
  
***  
  
"No! Mother, no!" Amelia cried in pain, as she witnessed the bounty hunter's act of murder. She tried to rush into the scene, so save her mother, so that everything would be fine, but an unknown force held her back.  
  
The bounty hunter laughed, and transformed into Kanzel. "You can't do anything to help! You couldn't even save your own mother! Now that your father is dead as well, what will you do?" He smiled horribly.  
  
"Daddy isn't dead!" Amelia protested, tears streaming from her face. "It wasn't true! It wasn't true! He was never killed by you!"  
  
Kanzel's eyes flared, showing no mercy, and Amelia was thrown against a wall. "Your father was killed because of YOU!" he accused.  
  
Amelia felt herself being pulled by an unknown force through the walls of the palace, out into the sky. And as she looked down, she gasped in horror. For all of Seyruun was burning. The people screamed in the streets, and as they looked up, they pointed, shouting, "It's your fault! What justice is there in Seyruun when there is no protection?"  
  
"It isn't true!" Amelia sobbed. "I didn't do any of these things!" Kanzel laughed and laughed....  
  
***  
  
Filia fought the Ancient Dragons, even though she didn't want to. Her body was being forced to. "Stop this, whoever you are!" she cried, as she killed another of the enemy. "I don't want to do this!"  
  
The other Golden Dragons charged at their opponents, ignoring Filia as though they couldn't see her. "You are endangering this world!" the Supreme Elder shouted. "You must all be destroyed!"  
  
"NO, there must be another way!" Filia yelled in pain.  
  
Valgaav appeared, floating beside her as her laser breath killed yet another dragon. "So this is what you have done," he stated. "Why must you murder my people? I thought you were different; I thought you cared."  
  
"VAL!" Filia yelled desperately. "Please, none of this is true! You're not supposed to be grown up! You're not supposed to be in this battle, and neither am I!"  
  
The battle suddenly ended with a brilliant explosion, after which the Golden Dragons and Ancient Dragons were both dead, except for two - Filia and Valgaav. "You had to kill us, didn't you?" Valgaav asked quietly. "It was because of you that both of our races had to suffer, had to be tortured, had to die..."  
  
Filia collapsed with pain, struggling not to cry.  
  
***  
  
Xellos was surrounded by darkness, by evil, in every direction. He was being tortured, tortured because the darkness was deeper than him. Tortured because he was powerless, and the evil around him was too strong to be countered.  
  
"Xellos Metallium!" a voice called. "You call yourself a member of the monster race? You are nothing! A disgusting servant! A powerless piece of filth!"  
  
Xellos's eyes flared, and he gripped his staff more tightly. He fired blasts off into the darkness, but to no avail. "Come out and face me!" he called.  
  
"You have no right to summon me forth!" the voice called. "I may be anything. I am your worst fears."  
  
Suddenly, Xellos was overwhelmed by images, visions of horrible clarity. He was so strained that he couldn't keep his human form anymore, his mozaku form of a black cone coming into view. He saw the monsters being slaughtered by merciless gods. He saw himself being chopped to pieces by the Demon Dragon King. He saw Phibrizzo turning against him, killing him for his own pleasure. Xellos had no voice any longer. He could only behold the visions with terror.  
  
***  
  
The Lord of Nightmares hovered in darkness that spread out in every direction, and her eyes showed no fear, only supremacy as always. "Show yourself!" she commanded. "Do not hide like a coward!"  
  
Dark laughter filled the air, echoing in every direction, and the amount of evil affected even the Mother of All Things. The cold whooshed in from nowhere, darkness approaching with ice.  
  
And all of a sudden, L-sama felt herself being teleported. Herself and all of the Slayers were being moved from the mysterious temple to the outside world once again. In the Outer World.  
  
***  
  
At this point, the six Slayers were suddenly teleported out of their nightmares, of which they were most grateful. They appeared next to the Lord of Nightmares under the pitch-black sky. Red lighting struck from above, and chaos danced everywhere. Not one spoke; they were too weak to speak.  
  
The Slayers looked on as their visions came back, and then shot out of their minds into material form. Rezo, the gigantic slug, Kanzel, the destruction of Sairaag, visions of horror, the destruction of the Golden and Ancient Dragons, Gaav, Hellmaster, Zangulus - they all zoomed out of the Slayers' hearts into the dismal air, and spun more and more quickly until it was a spiral of fear and power.  
  
The darkness... Icy, the darkness... it was overwhelming, and even L-sama herself was surprised at the strength. The memories of Anguish and Pain played idly in the Slayers' minds, but then were washed away by their sheer insignificance in comparison to this enemy.  
  
As the spiral spun faster, the darkness grew deeper, and walls and paths flew out of the sky into the mixture, spinning faster and faster and faster, fear and hatred absorbed everywhere....  
  
And the spiral stopped.  
  
And there was a figure.  
  
And it looked at them with unrivaled power.  
  
The creature was horrendous beyond anything the Slayers had seen so far. The cloak was not red and or black that it wore, but it rather was weaved from chaos and negativity. Its face was absolutely monstrous, and the Slayers down below could see reflected in it all of the past enemies they had faced. They could see their worst fears. They could see pure darkness. The eyes were worse still than Pain's, the absolute soullessness of it enough to drive a man insane. Its hair streamed down its back, the dark energy still extending out where the hair ended.  
  
L-sama's eyes were unwavering, yet powerful as always. Her wisdom reflected in those eyes, and golden light exploded from her as she allowed some of her might to run free. "Who are you that dares to disrupt the balance in the four worlds?" she asked, levelly.  
  
The creature looked back with equal confidence, and as he held out his hand, twin wings forged of chaos erupted from his shoulders, horrible beyond compare, frightful past imagination. In his dreadful hand, he held the fate of the world. Dark power erupted from him, and the land around the area screamed in protest, mountains jutting up out of the ground, piercing the sky, which also groaned in agony. The sun had long since died.  
  
"You may call me Fate." 


	7. War With the Black Past, Birth of Finali...

The Dark Brilliance  
  
Chapter 6: War With the Black Past, Birth of Finality  
  
"The nightmare returned, stronger than ever before. Will strength be enough to win yet again?"  
  
The sky was withered, defeated. And the darkness was too much for it to hold meaning for. So it began to rain, black rain.  
  
Each drop that hit the ground was a wound to the earth, sizzling and causing impurities that would never be healed. The Slayers felt each drop clear as day, like a hailstorm of needles that wouldn't stop, like a constant pain that won't go away.  
  
Fate looked down at Lina Inverse emotionlessly, and Lina shivered under the creature's cold gaze. She could almost feel the willpower draining from her. She held her head between her hands, trying to fight the horrible feeling, but it was useless. Still, she knew that she couldn't give up. Wouldn't.  
  
"I sensed your fear. I knew your battles. It is my purpose to take advantage of that," Fate stated, his black wings flapping dangerously, sending a strong wind that whirled the dark raindrops around in a frenzy. "And that's the way I'll defeat you. The Last of the Three, the strongest under my master."  
  
L-sama's eyes flared, and her golden aura rose in power. "Your battle will be with me!" she declared, firing a blast of chaotic energy at Fate.  
  
"It's... bad... isn't it?" Gourry managed to groan, struggling to stay on his feet. Still, he brought out his Sword of Light dutifully. "But we've still gotta have hope. It's... no different from all our other battles..." The others didn't say anything, merely giving a nod of indication or getting ready for battle themselves. It looked like there was no way to win, but they were prepared to fight to the death.  
  
Fate seperated from itself. As if intended to be one complex puzzle, bits of itself unwound from other bits in an advanced pattern, so that eventually there were two of it. The two Fates flew in opposite directions, spreading their power to cover more range, and then they both stated in unison: "Face your worst fears, fight the past that has returned from the grave. Let darkness engulf you, pain ignite you, and anxiety consume you. Let your negative energy feed Master. Let what has meant to be for countless millenia come into play on this dark day."  
  
L-sama didn't blink. She fired more blasts of golden energy, but the two Fates came to be one once again, causing a pitch-black whirlwind that the golden light could only swirl around, and then become absorbed. She stood her ground, still remaining calm. "Then come at me with your best efforts. I will put a stop to this once and for all!"  
  
Xellos gripped his staff more tightly. Inside the tornado, between the strikes of blood-red lightning, he could sense a familar presence. One that had defeated him more than once before, and of which he could still feel hatred from. Everything was happening too fast. This final servant of the Dark Brilliance felt so different from the past two. The other two has gloated, laughed, mocked them, and openly displayed their evil powers. Fate showed none of this, so Xellos had no idea exactly what opponent they were facing. And he knew from his own acting and experience that an enemy which you knew nothing about was the worst kind. But what was this presence...? Did this Fate truly have the power to attack with fear?  
  
Zelgadis fired a Ra Tilt at the evil wind, but it merely dissipated away into nothing. Finding new strength, the chimera shouted, "Show yourself! Fight us; do not hide!"  
  
A new, or perhaps old... enemy dropped down from the whirling tornado of death. His red hair blew dramatically in the black wind, his body was untouched by the black rain, and his power illuminated the black sky. Darkness was everywhere, and he was just one more portion of it, but it was a familiar darkness. A darkness that had been defeated before. It was the Demon Dragon King in person.  
  
"Not him again..." Amelia whispered in horror, remembering the terrifying battle of before.  
  
"So this is the Demon Dragon King..." Filia acknowledged, trembling.  
  
Lina was still silent, as if continuing her determination to fight the battle to the end, and Zelgadis was concentrated as usual.  
  
Suddenly, Lina spoke up. "Is it really Gaav again? It's impossible, isn't it? Maybe this is just a mind trick, or maybe that 'Demon Dragon King' is only a hologram, an illusion. I don't know what this opponent is trying to pull...."  
  
The Lord of Nightmares cringed in anger. "That is not one of my creations! It is an imposter, a twisted version of your own disgusting design!" she shouted into the black tornado. "Is this your master's plan? To take the inhabitants of the worlds I have created and destroy them, only to make them all over again? I shall not accept it!" With a sudden burst of power, the Lord of Nightmares, raised her hand and flared her eyes, making Gaav crash to the ground.  
  
"The Mother of All things is against me now?" Gaav asked, cringing. "But why? Phibrizzo hasn't sided with you. Why are you turning on your own creations?" he demanded of L-sama.  
  
With another flare of anger, L-sama's power destroyed Gaav, and the former enemy reverted back to black energy, flowing back through the air seamlessly into the tornado that was Fate.  
  
"So that's the power level of you all, is it?" Fate inquired. "Then I must twist the past a bit to win, shouldn't I?"  
  
Suddenly it felt like a nuke had gone off. The darkness was so strong now it was all the Slayers could do to avoid being overcome by it and absorbed. Xellos, Zelgadis, Lina, and Gourry managed to stand their ground, squaring themselves against the wind, though barely. Amelia and Filia began to cast barriers and holy magic to try to fight the evil that was starting to consume their essences.  
  
The tornado had turned into an inferno, but not only of fire. And now Fate could be seen at the center, the wings of chaos pumping to speed up the process and to make it stronger. The elements began to warp faster and faster around the whirlwind; Fate was using more strength to create something far more powerful.  
  
Four figures spiralled out of the insane catastrophe of power, at long last.  
  
One jingled his staff, his red robe billowing in the dark wind. Another, in a trenchcoat, came out again. A small boy with an innocent-looking expression was the third. The final one also had black wings that extended out from his shoulders, green hair that was spiked up, eyes that shone with the knowledge of a long, cursed fate. The four most horrible enemies from the past.  
  
"Rezo..." Zelgadis cringed.  
  
"Valgaav!" Filia cried, her eyes widening. "You're supposed to be Val... Val..."  
  
  
  
"It looks like all of our old enemies have returned," Lina stated, her eyes looking far more tired than usual.  
  
L-sama fired another blast at Gaav, almost as if she was annoyed that the destruction of the previous one hadn't proved sufficient. This blast, however, Gaav knocked aside with his huge sword. The Demon Dragon King smirked. "Well, it looks like this time I'll finally get to destroy Lina Inverse."  
  
However, the Lord of Nightmares showed no sign of surprise. "So you've increased their powers have you, you disgusting creature?" she stated calmly towards Fate. "I don't think those false beings will be the root of my problem; you are. And when this battle is over, I suppose your 'Master' will have someone to answer to. Let the battle begin." Fate nodded, and his dark versions of Rezo, Gaav, Phibrizzo, and Valgaav charged forward, their red eyes blazing in the miserable dark.  
  
"Valgaav, I may have been able to kill you once, but I was lucky that time. You came back. I can't... I can't do it again!" Filia dropped to her knees, sobbing.  
  
The others helped her up quickly. "Miss Filia, we just have to do the best we can," Amelia tried to reassure her. "They aren't real. They aren't real."  
  
"Ha!" shouted Rezo, firing a huge burst of energy while striking the earth with his staff. The Slayers scattered, with Zelgadis charging toward Rezo in a counterattack.  
  
"You cursed me with this body long ago, and now you come back to haunt me?!" Zelgadis demanded, slashing across the Red Priest's unguarded face with his sword. He landed neatly on the opposite side of Rezo, and waited.  
  
"Ah, Zelgadis. A betrayal as always," Rezo muttered in amusement, turning around. To Zelgadis's diebelief, there wasn't even a scratch where his sword had met Rezo. "But this time it won't be enough." He laughed.  
  
"You weren't this powerful!" Zelgadis protested. "Don't you have any pride but to come back with the help of this disgusting being?" he pointed towards Fate, who was still hovering in the sky facing L-sama.  
  
Rezo flared up his power, and the might of both Shabranigdo and Zanifar flared from him, though he still kept in total control. "I have been given the power to bend the truth, to meld what has happened in the past into the current present." His power rose even more, and Zanifar roared as the Dark Lord's red eyes gleamed in the mist that was surrounding the Red Priest. Suddenly, Rezo opened his eyes, and a remarkable clarity of truth was shown there that even Copy Rezo had failed to previously achieve. "And I love it." He swung his staff down with great force, and as it hit the ground, the familiar dark jingling sound echoed throughout the valley of death which the battlefield had become.  
  
Zelgadis cast a Ray Wing, shielding himself from the huge explosion that followed. But, even before the smoke cleared, Rezo charged towards him, hitting him with full force in the stomach. Zelgadis gasped, but then managed to regain control of himself. He tried attacking back with a spell, but the Red Priest merely smirked, and striked Zelgadis with a blow that sent him flying backwards, skidding painfully along the ground.  
  
"Still useless. Still helpless," Rezo chuckled, his eyes dancing dangerously.  
  
"Sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heavens' bonds," Lina chanted from a distance. "Become one with my power, one with my body, and let us walk the path of destruction together. Power that can crush even the souls of the gods. Ragna Blade!" She sprinted towards Rezo from behind.  
  
As she leapt into the air, the Red Priest turned around, and with an expression of actual surprise, was abruptly killed as the Sword of Chaos cut him to pieces. Lina panted on the ground, trying to regain her strength. "Well, at least one of them is out of the way," she gasped.  
  
Zelgadis picked himself up again, but he was feeling sore and, yes, useless. He caught Lina's eye after he saw the defeated Rezo. "Lina, are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine," Lina replied weakly. "L-sama, I wish this nightmare would end."  
  
"Your god is going to die, and the nightmare is eternal," Rezo replied, smirking.  
  
Lina's eyes slowly widened in horror, as did Zelgadis's. The Red Priest was still in pieces on the ground, but no blood had been shed. Slowly, darkness began to concentrate near Rezo, and a bolt of red lightning flashed across the sky. It interlocked him, built him, made him again. And as the parts of Rezo reassemabled, he simply took on a look of utter confidence, his open eyes regarding them with malice. Almost as soon as it began, the process was over. There wasn't even the smallest injury on Rezo.  
  
"That's... impossible!" Zelgadis protested, looking at Rezo with anger. "DAMN YOU! Why won't you DIE?!" He drew his sword again, and in a motion that seemed to be no motion at all, completely impaled Rezo with his weapon.  
  
Lina stepped back a little, horrified at both the sight and Zelgadis's sudden burst of anger.  
  
"You made me who I turned into, and now I finally get to undo you," Zelgadis stated, his voice dripping with hatred that had been held back for years. Rezo coughed up some dark blood, but still managed to maintain his evil expression.  
  
"RA TILT!" Zelgadis yelled, channeling in the attack through the sword. The ensuing explosion threw both him and Lina backwards, and Rezo was completely incinerated.  
  
Lina got to her feet quickly, feeling even more danger about. Even though she knew deep own that Rezo probably still wasn't dead, she still remembered the other enemies. She let out a cry of surprise when she saw Phibrizzo sitting on a nearby rock surface. He'd been watching the battle the whole time.  
  
"Quite a good job," Hellmaster chuckled. "Since you see how hopeless the situation is, why don't you try one more time? Cast the Giga Slave again!"  
  
Lina had to smile a tiny bit at this, despite the hellish situation. "I have news for you, Phibrizzo. I already have, and this ghost existence you live now is exactly the same as when you revived those souls in Sairaag. You mean nothing, and the Lord of Nightmares would surely destroy you a second time."  
  
Hellmaster appeared to consider this for a bit, but then a familiar smirk came over his face. "You're right. Perhaps this time, I'll just entertain myself by killing you and your friends for no reason at all..." A famliiar set of soul orbs appeared in his hand.  
  
"Stop it!" Amelia screamed, trying to catch Phibrizzo's attention.  
  
"Amelia, no!" Lina yelled. "Don't repeat the past!"  
  
Phibrizzo laughed, his laugh sounding altogether too much like Anguish's and Pain's to be his. "We'll start with you..." he continued in triumph, lifting up a single soul orb in between his thumb and forefinger.  
  
Zelgadis looked around. There appeared to be no sign of Rezo. Perhaps his revenge had finally been exacted. His heart skipped a beat when he saw some ashes on the ground moving. No... No... he thought desperately.  
  
The ashes formed a hand, and that hand went right for Zelgadis's throat. Zel had no time to react, and as he tried to resist the choking hand, the rest of Rezo built up around him from the ashes, and soon Rezo's face was seen again as he held Zelgadis in his clutches.  
  
"Don't you know? I've been created by Master expecially for you," Rezo chuckled. "Surely you didn't expect me to go so soon, did you?"  
  
Valgaav bowed to Gaav, his Ancient Dragon wings flapping slightly. "Gaav-sama... We are finally given the chance to fight together..."  
  
Gaav laughed. "Yes, and this time Hellmaster won't stand in the way either. This time, the monster race shall be ours."  
  
Xellos teleported to near them. "But I shan't be out of your way this time, Demon Dragon King," he stated, oddly bold. Even Xellos knew that if he gave up now, everyone would die.  
  
"Oh, really? You interfere again, Xellos. But this time, not in the way of my plan, but simply in my WAY!" Gaav bellowed, firing an energy blast from his sword.  
  
Xellos managed to teleport out of the way, but barely. He teleported high above, and Gourry got the signal they had planned. From a distance, the swordsman fired a huge blast of energy from the Sword of Light to where Gaav and Valgaav were standing. There was an excellent chance they would both be hit head-on.  
  
Filia got the sign as well. She fired her Chaotic Disintegrate spell, hoping against hope that since these were darker versions of the original, holy spells would be enough to vanquish them.  
  
Valgaav flared up his amazing power, but Gaav was not surprised. For since Fate had chosen this reality to be true, it had always been that Valgaav had possessed unrivaled might. He commanded the forces of both Volpheed and Darkstar.  
  
Gaav, and least of all Valgaav, had to do anything to block against such weak attacks.  
  
"There is no need for the purification of the world when fate does not require it to be done," Valgaav stated. "It is the wish of both Volpheed and Darkstar that you all be DESTROYED!" With a yell, he began powering up to his full strength, made even greater by his rebirth by the Dark Brilliance.  
  
The black rain began swelling to monsoon proportions, the endless waves of water not just sheets, but seemingly a solid presence in the air. The red lightning now spanned from sky to earth, starting fires that just as quickly fed the darkness, fed Fate, fed the Dark Brilliance.  
  
Phibrizzo stopped. Rezo stopped. Everyone simply stopped moving and just watched as they felt Valgaav's colossal power begin to pick up; power that could surpass the Lord of Nightmares'?  
  
L-sama herself had been hovering in the sky facing Fate the entire time, neither of them moving, merely watching the battle below to see the situation. But the Mother of All Things had finally had enough. "That's right!" she stated in her perfect level voice, this Golden Kyra beginning to show her strength. "It IS time to end all of this, and as your 'Master' indicates, it is all just a pattern. So following that logic, YOU are Valgaav, the Ancient Dragon fusion from my creations. And so you shall be defeated by the very weapons of that which you have absorbed. There are no Darkstar weapons in this world, and you have not absorbed Darkstar. You have utilized the powers of chaos, which only I am allowed to manipulate directly. And so you shall be defeated by chaos. There is no need for Darkstar weapons, as I am the one who created Darkstar in the Beginning. And so I have the power to create new ones."  
  
"As you say," Fate replied, in an equally level tone. "But the outcome will be the same in the end."  
  
"Lina Inverse!" L-sama shouted, so that her voice was heard by all in the area.  
  
Lina looked up, surprised to be called upon directly yet again.  
  
"You must cast another Giga Slave!"  
  
The Slayers all looked very surprised and bewildered at this, and as they were all soaked by the neverending rain, they felt another wave of despair.  
  
"But why?" Lina called back over the sound of thunder. "I don't know if I have enough strength!"  
  
Phibrizzo smiled, his face illuminated by the lightning. "If I have been killed once by this, perhaps it is fate that the same happen again." His eyes looked wild. Nothing made sense.  
  
"Your Giga Slave is what keeps me channeled to this earth!" the Lord of Nightmares explained. "I am supposed to be the Overseer. I should never have had to make a direct entry unto my own creations. You must channel me fully with another spell!"  
  
Lina sighed, the burden of responsibility falling on her again. Fate's full attention was on her, and so his false creations had no purpose any longer. Valgaav stopped powering up, Gaav put away his sword, Rezo released his grip, and Phibrizzo's soul orbs vanished. They turned into darkness in a meld once more, and in a tornado of power surged back into Fate's essence. The Slayers were free to move on their own again, but none of them did. They could all see.  
  
They could all see across the horror which was the only thing any of them remembered now. Even across the monsoon of evil. Even across the pitch-black Outer World. Even across the red lightning and black thunder and death itself. They could witness the calamity. And so the process began.  
  
"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, Deeper than the depest night," Lina chanted, her eyes glistening with determination. Even at these few words, the aura of the Lord of Nightmares began to shine. "King of Darkness, who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos." The evil of Fate deepened, and his emotionless glance never wavered. "I pledge myself to thee..." The rain swelled even more. It was so odd - the sheets and sheets of rain pouring down, but never accumulating upon the ground. "SWEAR myself to thee..." A titanic bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, the last one. This one, if anyone had looked at in detail, stayed in the sky for a full three seconds, and embedded in it was creation, was chaos to the finest level. "Let the fools who stand before me...." Suddenly, there was absolute silence. he rain made no sound, breathing was not heard, L-sama's growing aura not impacting at all. Only Lina's voice was heard. "Be destroyed by the power you and I possess... GIGA SLAVE!"  
  
Those final two words sent a silent command through the air, and the power of the Mother of All Things suddenly rose infinitely, her radiance to the fullest degree. Fate's power paled beneath Her.  
  
Sound came back, everything came back at once, including L-sama's powerful voice. "With this revitalized power, I carry out the prophecy, the prophecy of your inevitable death. I create the Nightmare Weapons, not from the power of any of my creations, but from my essence directly."  
  
As she spoke, four weapons that held the power of Chaos fell from the sky. The sword fell into Gourry's hands, the spear into Zelgadis's, the axe into Amelia's, and the bow into Lina's.  
  
No one had any objections about having to use weapons this time, and Filia was the first to realize. "This is the second prophecy!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps once we finish this, this nightmare will be over."  
  
"Does this mean I get to fuse my power with yours again?" asked Xellos, smiling faintly.  
  
Filia allowed a small smile too. "I suppose. How unfortunate."  
  
Zelgadis, Gourry, and Amelia put on what little confidence they had left. "This time will be a final victory," Gourry said in a matter-of-fact manner, even against the horrible atmosphere.  
  
"I'll live with you in Seyruun if we get past this," Zelgadis whispered, gathering up unexpected courage. He bent down and kissed Amelia softly on the kiss, knowing that if he didn't do it now, he might never get to. Amelia blushed a deep red but didn't say anything, only looking back with a smile at Zelgadis while awkwardly holding the dark axe at the same time.  
  
The three got in a triangle around Lina, who knew that history was about to be repeated. Filia and Xellos got behind the whole procession, and that began the ceremony.  
  
The dragon and the mozaku once again channeled the power of the gods and monsters, powering up as much as they could.  
  
It was at this point, when the energy from the Nightmare Weapons was starting to connect, and the forces of good and evil were converging, that Lina realized something vital. She had no idea what spell to chant. But then she realized - it didn't matter .This was no battle; this was the End.  
  
L-sama looked down with approval, and then fired a blast of chaotic energy towards the Slayers. The chaos was absorbed by the Nightmare Weapons, and it gave the companions the instructions they needed.  
  
In perfect precision, they fired their blasts and channeled their power. An arrow pierced through the air, glistening and perfect, towards Fate. And it was inevitable - the huge blast centered directly where the disgusting creature's heart should have been, and the explosion that ensued finally destroyed the nightmare once and for all.  
  
Or did it?  
  
For at the moment Fate was destroyed, a HUGE force was felt by everyone, and even L-sama had to retreat to the ground to prepare Herself for something horrible that was arriving. As the smoke cleared from the Nightmare Weapons' blast, the air suddenly turned completely and utterly BLACK, as if the lights over the whole world had been shut off. There was no moon, no stars, nothing. Only darkness.  
  
And then a single light. Red light. Power that erupted from where Fate had been struck.  
  
The power was suddenly felt in full force. Mountains erupted out of the ground, though no one could see them. Earthquakes began, and rocks flew through the air.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares created a shield immediately, protecting Herself and the Slayers from harm.  
  
"This is it," Gourry whispered, to no one in particular. But everyone knew what he meant.  
  
Suddenly, they all SAW. They saw terrible things. A scene from another world of a thing called the Holocaust. Of disease annihalating a race. Of wars and guns and tanks.  
  
They saw people getting hanged, their air slowly escaping their lungs, and people nearby crying, crying for the people and the injustice in the world.  
  
They saw torture. Blood spraying everywhere. Grotesque, disgusting deaths. They saw nightmares, they saw every fear in color, they saw the impossible where it could happen. They saw people screaming, running, begging for mercy and being killed savagely. Laughing, dark figures holding daggers up to the sky and piercing it so that the stars fell and the sun and moon choked and died.  
  
Pain. Fear. Anxiety. Depression. Helplessness. Anger. Spite. Jealousy. Emotions were painted in their minds, but only negative ones. They saw Death.  
  
"Please, stop it! STOP IT!" Filia screamed, her body nearly giving out from the strain of witnessing. Witnessing "truth".  
  
The others fell to the ground, and they were wracked by new pain, a horrible feeling that none of the previous Three they had faced could have caused.  
  
"Can't... you... stop... this....?" Amelia asked in desperation at the Lord of Nightmares.  
  
But L-sama was looking strangely disturbed as well. "I would never have thought..." she began. "That chaos could be formed in such... ways..."  
  
They saw more. Heard more. The darkness they were in was nothing. The darkness that was creeping into their minds and soul... that was the true danger.  
  
They saw people being whipped, beheaded, burned slowly. They saw the ultimate triumph of evil, but those figures were only betrayed and replaced by an even more horrible degree of evil.  
  
They saw themselves. They saw themselves acting crazily, shouting at each other and fighting. They saw that they were killing themselves, trying to emerge the victor, trying to kill all the others so that-  
  
"SHOW YOURSELF NOW!" Lina yelled, suddenly gaining strength.  
  
The visions stopped. The darkness lifted enough so that the red light was seen more clearly. But there was nothing there.  
  
"That's right. I am the Dark Brilliance," a voice stated. "Now why don't we proceed with what we all know will eventually happen?"  
  
"Where are you? Why do you hide behind images and illusions if your servants always go about how powerful you are?" the Lord of Nightmares asked, regaining authority.  
  
"Is it really so important to you all? I think what we really want is a fight... isn't it?"  
  
"I don't think that's what any of us wants..." Gourry managed to say, drawing the Sword of Light as the Nightmare Weapons vanished.  
  
"Then it will be only one. The very last fight of all."  
  
______________________________________________________________________________  
  
Well, it's been another really long wait. I'm sorry it took so long to write another chapter, but I have to put really careful thought into some of the description. Also, I lacked some inspiration because I didn't get as much reviews for chapter 5. The more people that R & R this time, the faster I'll have the next chapter up. ^_^ 


	8. The Greatest Evil

The Dark Brilliance  
  
Chapter 7: The Greatest Evil  
  
"The oldest of the oldest, hid long in darkness pure. If there is naught to stop it, then death will know no cure."  
  
The Lord of Nightmares looked unblinkingly up at the pitch-black sky with the evil red blood spreading quickly across the horizon. There was no more rain, only a strong, strong chaotic force winding through the air.  
  
Yet after the Dark Brilliance had declared battle, they still had not seen the monster, and so were forced to spin images for themselves, using the darkest stuff of their most horrible nightmares.  
  
"It's there... isn't it?" Gourry asked, still dutifully holding out his Sword of Light, though he knew it would be no good.  
  
"We're ready to fight to the death!" Amelia shouted at the sky, surprising everyone. She knew that fear would only worsen the situation now; they should at least try...  
  
Filia couldn't take it any longer. This demon, no, worse than demon.... even mozaku couldn't have been this deadly or horrible... it had tortured her in more ways than one. Sure, there'd been physical pain, but she could deal with that. Physical pain was only temporary. But it had brought back up emotions that she thought would stay firmly in the back of her mind, images of the slaughtering of both the Golden Dragon and the Ancient Dragons. Doubts of killing Valgaav, who had been through so much. It was pain that tore at the heart and soul. And this inner rage amidst all the pain had built up, and she finally cried out, "Why don't you SHOW yourself instead of hiding behind your disgusting servants? What is the point of all this pain that you're causing everyone?! YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THAN A USELESS COWAR-"  
  
Time seemed to stand still for a moment. Gourry and Amelia were still only half-aware of the situation after speaking so briefly ago, thinking that Filia just had to say something, like them. Lina, Zelgadis, and Xellos had still be looking determinedly at the darkness that surrounded them, at the blood-red that was growing in a pinpoint spot on the horizon. When Filia had cried out her outburst, none had turned to look at her. For this was how they were feeling too, and when the dragon expressed it, they merely continued to look forward, as if hoping that if they looked hard enough as the truth of the pain was said, the evil would dissipate.  
  
And so none knew how to react when the sound of a body hitting the ground suddenly broke the unearthly silence. Filia was dead.  
  
Xellos was the first at Filia's side, looking for a pulse or sign of life of any kind. He turned her over, but her face was deathly pale. She was gone. There was nothing he could do. "Filia..." he managed, his voice trembling a bit.   
  
The others had gathered around her, looking desperate and frightened. But there wasn't much to say. The situation was grave.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares looked down at the scene with her look of infinite wisdom.  
  
"Please, isn't there anything you can do?!" Amelia cried out, suddenly realizing in full force who it was that was hovering up there in the sky.  
  
Lina's mouth was set in a thin line. These were the same emotions she'd felt when Phibrizzo had killed everyone, but she would not let the enemy have the pleasure of feeding off her negativities this time. Still, she felt like perhaps this really was the end. There was no crystal this monster would suddenly use to "capture the essence of life" that had left Filia's body. There was no bringing her back. She was gone, suddenly. Gone forever. "You have to bring her back!" Lina yelled, breaking her silence.  
  
"You brought Lina back, remember?" called Gourry, his voice breaking a little. "I remember a little of how I went after you, but you still let Lina come back."  
  
"Yes, you... saved us all..." Zelgadis added, his expression mixed between fury and sorrow at Filia's sudden death.  
  
Xellos... He didn't cry; mozaku can't cry, but it was obvious to all that he'd just lost something very important to him. He was silent.  
  
"You're the Lord of Nightmares!" Lina shouted. "The Mother of All Things! You must be able to bring Filia back!"  
  
The Lord of Nightmares listened to this, and for a moment the Golden Kyra brought hope. But then she shook her head, her golden radiance bright, but somehow dimmed. "I am not the Mother of the Dark Brilliance. He inflicted the death of one of my eventual creations, and so she cannot be brought back. She is one with darkness now."  
  
Suddenly, evil laughter echoed from every direction, making the Slayers' blood run cold. It was like they were on a single platform floating in mid-air; hopelessness made that seem that way. The laughter wasn't like Anguish or Pain's. It was very full, very powerful... and made one want to die instead of listen to it.  
  
"So, you want me to show myself? I can be anything you want me to be."   
  
A figure suddenly appeared not a hundred yards away from the group, dark and dismal. Without seeming to move, it came closer and closer. Its bottomless eyes contained all the evil that had ever been commited, absorbed and strengthened. Blood ran down its form, and it was also black.  
  
From Filia's body, a silvery-white presence shot out into the Dark Brilliance's gaping mouth, and he absorbed it with glee, to the horror of everyone else. With her addition, he seemed to get just a little bit stronger.  
  
"She's mine," he chuckled, and Lina thought she could see a shadow of Filia in one of his eyes. "Ah, isn't this a wonderful situation? Don't worry, she was just for fun; none of the rest of you will die anytime soon. After all, I have all of eternity to do what I want with you all!" He laughed and laughed, and the cold was starting to pierce through flesh and bone.  
  
"YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF FILTH!" Lina cried out suddenly, shooting a Fireball at the Dark Brilliance, though she knew it to be futile.  
  
To the surprise of everyone, though, the simple spell tore a hole right through the creature's center, and the mangled mess still moved ever closer to them, blood flowing in a steady stream. But what had startled them the most was Filia's scream of pain, followed by the sound of sobbing.  
  
"Oh, surprised, are you?" the Dark Brilliance asked. "You still don't realize exactly what I am, do you? Well, you'll find out soon enough." As the bits of blood and gristle flowed down to the ground, they suddenly shot back into him again, and in an instant it was as if he'd never been hit.  
  
A golden blast of energy, shot through him, incinerating him, and Filia's wails filled the air once again. The Lord of Nightmares landed on the ground, and immediately began pummeling the Dark Brilliance with all of her force.  
  
"Wait, no!" Zelgadis yelled. "Is Filia being tortured? Are we hurting her?"  
  
"I don't know... I just don't know..." Lina murmured, half-dazed at the hopelessness of what was happening.  
  
Xellos was now just a shell of his former self. From the beginning, he hadn't known what to do when he seemed to know just as little as everyone else about the situation. He didn't have as much to say, and his powers seemed to be doing nothing at all. And now, in the beginning of the final battle, he felt as empty as ever.  
  
"I think he's trying to trick us," Gourry offered, watching the exchange between the greatest evil and the greatest chance they had. "With Filia's pain... I think it's just.... to weaken us..."  
  
Zelgadis let out a bitter laugh. "Well, then it won't work. We're already as withered as we can get. It's all over. We've finally lost, and I was probably damned to die in this accursed body."  
  
"Zel!" Lina protested. "Please, don't think that way. We still have to fight, no matter what happens."  
  
But Zelgadis's words had had a great impact on the five of the group. Even the First of the Three had been far stronger than the Valgaav fusion... what in the world would win the battle now...?  
  
The Lord of Nightmares was fighting with physical force. After seeing what Lina's fireball had done, she knew that the Dark Brilliance's seemingly fragile existence would be hurt by most anything, and physical attacks were the fastest. Hopefully, it was because the planet was too small an existence for the disgusting creature, just as she had had to have Lina channel her in order to have her powers stay solid. In any case, it was what she was betting on.  
  
With Kyra's strong body, L-sama delivered a roundhouse kick at the creature's head, causing one side of its head to completely cave in, making it look even more monstrous than before. She punched him square in the gut, broke his neck with her other hand in a quick motion, and then kicked him in the crotch. "Get off this earth!" she shouted, flaring up her golden power, and sending the Dark Brilliance crashing into a distant rock.  
  
In an instant, he was back, delivering an uppercut to her, and then delivering a sweeping kick that almost caused L-sama to stumble. He had completely healed, and blood was still running down his body as Filia'a mind and soul danced restlessly in his eyes. He pushed her back, and then started chanting some ancient spell. "Chaotic Disintegrate!" he shouted, firing Filia's spell at her.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares knocked it aside, and then went back for another wave of attacks.  
  
"You're only strengthening me with your fury and purpose..." he laughed at her. His false vulnerability was something that would aid him greatly as he gained power. He gathered a tiny needle of pure black energy in his right hand, and then flicked it at L-sama.  
  
The dark piece of energy shot through the air, and then landed square on its target.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares gasped, feeling real pain for the first time. And then she found that the wound in her arm would not heal. "What?! What did you attack me with?"  
  
The Dark Brilliance grinned. "Why, chaos, of course. Don't tell me you don't know how to use it...?" He let out another chuckle.  
  
Gourry suddenly plunged down from above, thrusting the Sword of Light straight down at the Dark Brilliance, and the creature was suddenly cut cleanly in half.  
  
Lina almost shot the Flare Arrows she was readying, but then let out a gasp of horror as the blood that flowed down, dark and horrible, reformed and shot back into the creature, making the Dark Brilliance full once more. "Isn't there anything that can stop it?"  
  
The Dark Brilliance suddenly let out a yell, and then to the amazement of everyone, transformed into a dark dragon, its powerful wings swirling evil all around them. "Ah, this Filia... she's proved useful in more ways than one..." The Dark Brilliance shot a line of chaos from his mouth at the Slayers that were still grouped, but they jumped out of the way just in time.  
  
Xellos teleported right over the Dark Brilliance, stabbing the creature's neck with his staff fiercely. "I would let you use Filia's powers for your own purposes!" he declared.  
  
Zelgadis dashed from behind, and chopped off the Dark Brilliance's tail. The severed limb moved a little on the ground, and then suddenly formed into a mirror-image of Zelgadis, only black as night, and with eyes that showed the same hollowness as all the other evil they'd encountered. He stepped slowly toward Zelgadis like a zombie, and the golem cowered back in horror. Suddenly, the evil Zelgadis tripped and fell to the ground, bursting into black energy and feeding back into the Dark Brilliance.  
  
"Did you know..." the creature laughed, as he turned back into his "human" self, sending Xellos hurtling backward. "Every little bit of fear and pain you give feeds me just a little? It's very interesting to me."  
  
Zelgadis clenched his teeth, remembering the despair he'd felt as he looked at the evil Zelgadis. Amelia, too, had been looking in horror at it.  
  
Lina had seized the opportunity a while ago, amidst the talking, and now she finally let her attack loose, using Gourry's sword to channel her Dragon Slave, and the demon blood talismans to amplify it even further. "Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed, by the powers you and I possess. Dragon Slave!" she yelled, slashing at the fiend, and causing a massive explosion which threw everyone backwards.  
  
A huge mushroom cloud blew up from the blast, and debris flew in all directions into the nightmare air. The impact of this amplified Dragon Slave had caused the landscape to cave in completely. Lina smiled weakly. "They're always still there when there's a big cloud of smoke, huh?"  
  
"Diem Wing!" Zelgadis shouted, clearing the smoke. There was nothing there. But everyone knew that they couldn't have won... did it have any effect?  
  
The Lord of Nightmares looked down at her injury, which pulsed with a darkness that she could never have conjured. She dearly hoped that when the monster was dead, it would be healed completely...  
  
"Hey, I don't see any traces left," Amelia said cautiously, looking into the giant crater. "You've disintegrated every part of him, Miss Lina!" But it was false hope. The sky had not changed.  
  
Another figure began walking toward them through the distant darkness, and in an instant, the Dark Brilliance was there again. "Do you understand now, what I am?" he asked, and Filia's soul was still encased within him.  
  
"Understand WHAT?" Zelgadis spat, his heart seizing with coldness again. "Understand that you're a heartless bastard that kills for fun and plays with his prey?"  
  
"Oh, no, I thought you'd figured that out already," laughed the Dark Brilliance, shooting out his hand.  
  
"AGH!" screamed Lina, overcome with pain. The others spasmed too, thrown onto the ground by sudden force. This was not like the pain that any of the Three had dealt them. This was on every level. Every cell was screaming with torture, and their minds and souls were being attacked with brutal force. A million knives cut into their flesh, searing their inner selves, never healing, always worsening.  
  
"YOU SEE, I CANNOT BE KILLED!" the enemy declared, amidst the endless torture. "It is fiction to think I can be. For you see, I do not have a body. I exist everywhere. I have no weaknesses; no hidden strategy can destroy me, for I cannot die. Understand that! I do not have an immortal body; I simply am immortal! AS LONG AS THERE IS CHAOS, I CAN FORM MYSELF FROM IT!" He smiled. "And you all will make me so much stronger..." He snapped his fingers, and the pain intensified a hundredfold.  
  
The Slayers screamed and screamed, but death wouldn't come.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares suddenly shot forward, and with her pointer and middle finger together struck the Dark Brilliance right between the eyes, and then shot a golden blast through which made him bleed even more than he was already. The unbelieveable pain ceased, leaving the Slayers gasping in its wake.  
  
"Can't.. be killed....?" Lina whispered, in a voice no one could hear.  
  
"HA!" the creature shouted, sending the Lord of Nightmares back a few steps.  
  
Zelgadis began to fall into total despair, still reeling from the pain they'd all just experienced. He was feeling total doubt now, just as all the others were starting to feel. If the Lord of Nightmares... the Lord and Mother of everything... can't beat the Dark Brilliance, how can humans hope to have any chance at all?  
  
"Come now, 'Mother', I know you have more of an army than this!" the Dark Brilliance said, challenging her.  
  
"Army...?" Lina wondered. Then, she suddenly understood.   
  
The Dark Brilliance had used the Three to attack them, his own creations. Now he wanted the Lord of Nightmares to attack using her army, her creations. There were still many people still in the world! In the eve of everything that had just recently happened, she had forgotten that they weren't the only ones that still lived. On the contrary, there were many more people that could help them. There were probably other strong sorcerors and sorceresses all over the world that the Slayers had never encountered, and the Lord of Nightmares would know them all! Maybe Gourry or someone had extra family, family that also had magical or swordsmanship skills. Family... Luna... Lina tried not to shudder at the thought of Luna aiding them, but she had to admit that the Knight of Ceipheed would be a worthy ally. Her sister would realize the importance of what was happening.  
  
And then new thoughts of this "army"! Piece by piece, the hopelessness was beginning to shatter. The Dark Brilliance could mold himself from chaos, but so could the Lord of Nightmares! And as he could create, she could also create. When they had frantically asked if L-sama could do something about Filia's death, she had sadly shook her head, saying that it was the Dark Brilliance who had killed Filia, and so there was nothing she could do. That meant that any other death - any other death by her other creations - she could bring them back! The Ancient Dragons, the Golden Dragons, Auntie Aqua; actually, all of the gods - they could be brought back to fight alongside them. The Lord of Nightmares might have greater powers than any of them, but perhaps strength in numbrs, a barrage from all sides, was the key.  
  
And then... the demons. Gaav, Hellmaster, Darkstar, Shabranigdo, even more unknown allies from the worlds of Death Fog and Chaotic Blue... Although Lina shuddered to think that all her old foes would really be back, she realized that since the Lord of Nightmares was the creator, she could probably do anything she wanted with her creations, like a child playing with its toys. They could still aid them; maybe Xellos could help to patch things up more. Even more interesting was when Lina remembered the Overworlders from Darkstar's world; they had become unlikely allies, hadn't they? There might be more people from that world. And perhaps even stronger sorcerors and sorceresses of every kind from the worlds of Chaotic Blue and Death Fog; one never knew!  
  
Amelia, Xellos, and even Zelgadis seemed to be contemplating the meaning of these words as well, and though hope didn't suddenly surge through them, it was suddenly there before them, like a distant hole through an endless haze, a hole through to peace and freedom. Only Gourry still looked lost as to the meaning of "army", but he would find out soon enough.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares acknowledged this challenge with a curt nod. It was about time that she could utilize her creations to fight this vital battle to end all battles. With a wave of her hand, five portals of golden light opened in the dark sky.  
  
"The farmost one on the left are the creations of this world, possibly the most unbalanced of my worlds, but useful nonetheless. It is a portal through which other lifeforms on thie planet will be transported through. The next one over is the portal through which all present forms of life in the world of Darkstar and Volpheed will go through. The third is that of the world of the dark lord Chaotic Blue, and the rightmost one is a portal through to the world of Death Fog, the last of the four dark lords I have created. However, this pot of land will obviously not be enough to accomodate all of my creations. Only those that might be of use in this battle will go through these portals. The fifth portal above the other ones is the one to the netherworld that I have created. All creations that have died thusfar that will prove of any use in this battle will be allowed to through the portal back into this plane of the living. Let this 'army' assemble." L-sama clapped her hands once, and golden energy encircled the five breaks in space-time.  
  
The Dark Brilliance melded partially into the shadows, smiling darkly, and watching the procedure with interest.  
  
While through the two rightmost portals deposited creatures strange and bizarre that the Slayers had never seen before, the two on the left showed some familiar faces. Sirius, Erulogos, and many strong-looking Overworlders came out of the second-to-left portal, holding the five Darkstar Weapons with great importance, and seemingly completely aware of what was currently going on. Some of them stumbled when they felt the great evil around them, but managed to keep their composure.  
  
From the leftmost portal, famliar faces emerged. Zangulus and Martina came through, as did the notorious Naga the Serpent, and the Knight of Ceipheed Luna, in all her glory. Several copies of Vrumugun accompanied them. Milgazia and some other Golden Dragons from the hidden Dragons' Peak came out after them. After them came Sylphiel, and so forth.  
  
It was from the centermost portal hovering above them that came the most interest. Shabranigdo and Darkstar came out, unbelieveably huge and powerful. None of the Slayers had ever seen a fully-formed Dark Lord before, but they could feel the power that emanated from them, the same ultimate power that embodied the Lord of Nightmares. Dragons of many kinds emerged. Vanquished mozaku and defeated gods came back out into the world of the living to fight the final fight. Ceipheed and Volpheed came next, amazing to all who beheld them. Next, came Valgaav, the Valgaav that had died when Val was reborn.  
  
The same power that was felt with Shabranigdo and Darkstar emerged from the two rightmost portals. Two enormous units of power, the Dark Lords Chaotic Blue and Death Fog, came out, followed by the gods that they had battled for countless millenia.  
  
This huge army stood still for a moment as the five portals closed, and then turned slowly to acknowledge each other, trying to make sense of the situation.  
  
"N...Naga?" Amelia half-whispered, catching her sister's eye.  
  
"Luna..." Lina managed, as her sister caught sight of her.  
  
"Rezo..." Zelgadis spat, his voice breaking with hatred as he looked at the revived priest.  
  
But before any reunions could begin, the Dark Brilliance broke the moment. "I'd let you all get acquianted, but unfortunately, I'm going to kill you all." He laughed, and another wave of pain washed over them all.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares held another golden sphere of energy ready in her hand. "I will explain everything to you all..." she promised. 


	9. United At Last

The Dark Brilliance  
  
Chapter 8: United At Last  
  
"Together we fight to the ends of this earth, Once mortal enemies awash in rebirth."  
  
Golden light swept over the dead land, and at once the knowledge was transferred. The arrivals saw. Knew. Understood. And what they now knew staggered many of them, though the eight gods and demons stood strong and proud. The pain that the Dark Brilliance was causing ceased as the Golden Lord's power swept over everyone like a river bathing a wound.  
  
Naga was silent, for once in her life. She had often laughed at danger, and laughed at anyone that opposed her. But even she knew that there was no laughter in this sinister place. No life, no light... Also she was silent at the sight of her sister. Amelia... Naga hadn't seen her in so long, and yet there was no mistaking her. And... Lina. Ever since their separation on the roads so long ago, they hadn't met again either. And now her former rival was here fighting this unknown evil. She ran toward the Slayers, as the massive armies began to unite together.  
  
Luna looked at her little sister with some sense of reminiscence. To think that Lina would've turned out in this kind of battle. She would have to have a long talk with her afterward...  
  
Martina and Zangulus were just about completely overwhelemed. They'd just been enjoying their honeymoon when this suddenly happened! But Martina and Zangulus both felt what neither had felt for 6 years... the sense of total despair in the air from the battle with Phibrizzo... intensified a thousandfold, and the situation grave beyond belief. They had received the information from the Golden Lord, whom they had never thought they would interact with again. But this time they knew far more about the situaiton at hand... and they understood just how powerful both sides of the battle were.  
  
Sylphiel felt this too. She still performed duties as a priestess, and her black magic skills remained as low as ever. Still, she was more than ready to cast the Dragonslave to help if needed. And she would see Gourry dear again....  
  
And everywhere, people thought about what was happening as they began to group together. They looked at the Dark Brilliance and shivered at its power. If not for the Lord of Nightmares, none of them could begin to comprehend the horror that had been going on. They were all weighted down like an anchor so big that it had capsized the ship of hope on which they were riding.  
  
"Sister..." Lina gulped, as Luna arrived alongside her. How strange that she should still feel such fear towards her sibling when such an awful evil threatened the universe. But that was just the way things were...  
  
"Ah, Lina..." cooed Luna. "Have you been behaving yourself?" she laughed, her eyes hidden as usual by her hair.  
  
Lina shuddered. "Y-y-yes, sister."  
  
Luna smiled. "Good! Then we can talk more after this battle is finished." Her presence was filling Lina with fear as usual, and her incredible powers could be felt by the confidence in her voice.  
  
"O-of course, s-sister," Lina managed, trying to keep her focus on the enemy.  
  
Surprisingly, Amelia and Naga simply didn't have much to say to each other. They met, exchanged a few words, thought of their mother, and then fell silent, also trying to stay focused on the battle. Two sisters lost for so long from each other, and only reunited by the greatest darkness of all; the Dark Brilliance had this power, to destroy hearts and minds.  
  
Lina exchanged a quick word with Naga as soon as she could edge away from Luna, but their old relationship had been lost. After about 10 years, the spark of their now-childish adventures was gone.  
  
Sylphiel and Gourry were deep in conversation when the mozaku and gods arrived.  
  
Gaav and Hellmaster, walking side by side, seemed to be twitching involuntarily. Apparently they were trying to resist L-sama's power, in order to try killing each other. They weren't succeeding, however, and their expressions steeled when they saw Lina and the rest of the Slayers.  
  
"Lina Inverse!" Hellmaster greeted her, still in his child form. "I suppose you think this is funny, the casting of the Giga Slave turning against me more than once." He sneered at her.  
  
Lina ignored him; she was busy wondering if their powers were going to be enough, but of course she had no reading of the Dark Brilliance's power to base it off of. She could tell it was going to be a long, difficult battle, however. It was definite that many would die, god, demon, dragon, and human alike. And from what she'd seen so far, the Dark Brilliance would enjoy it. And the fallen could never be brought back... trapped forever in darkness... unless the Dark Brilliance was defeated, that is; at least, she hoped so.  
  
Hellmaster couldn't get any closer to Lina; L-sama's power was holding him back, and he was furious that he was rendered so helpless. And Gaav didn't even try it; he was still so angry at Phibrizzo for humiliating him. "I would've ruled the monster race if it weren't for you!" he raged, swinging his sword dangerously but to no avail.  
  
Valgaav ran up at this point, and greeted Lord Gaav appropriately. Because of the revival of Volpheed and Darkstar, he was now just a mozaku / Ancient Dragon fusion, but still exceptionally powerful. Gaav left Phibrizzo with a withering glare before turning to talk with his former servant.  
  
Xellos greeted Beastmaster, eagerly discussing the events so far, while Dynast and Dolphin wandered around with their revived servants.  
  
And suddenly all was put to a stop. Lina stopped thinking of the battle, Gourry stopped chatting with Rowdy, Amelia stopped wondering what she should say to her sister, Zelgadis stopped yelling at Rezo, and Xellos stopped talking to the Dark Lords. All was silent when L-sama called attention, though some of the Dark Lords were evidently struggling to move of their own accord. She made another wave of golden light flash over them with a flick of her hand, and suddenly all cooperated, knew what they were fighting for, and were ready to fight to the death to save creation.  
  
The Dark Brilliance was watching all this, and laughed mercilessly at the bizarre army. "This is your 'army', 'Mother'?" he mocked. "I would've expected better! Did you not see? Your own forces quarrel among themselves; I would say some of them didn't even know of your existence. And each one is so unbelieveably weak; what a useless distribution of power. And no doubt there are still many more of your pathetic 'creations' that you didn't even summon forth, wasting their time when they're all about to DIIIIIEEEEE!" At that last word, the Dark Brilliance flared up his power and everyone on the ground stumbled back.  
  
The fight had begun.  
  
Milgazia led an army of Golden Dragons to attack the creature from the left, and the Dark Brilliance gladly flew up to meet them and shot a Laser Breath at them, scattering them in all directions. His hollow eyes still reflected only the deepest pits of hell, and his body bled black blood, singing the air around him. His body conveyed the most deadly aura, ready to absorb souls and strengthen him. He licked his dry, cracking lips, the darkness erupting from him in a frenzy to kill. He laughed and laughed as he managed to kill a dozen dragons, and their tortured souls fed back into him in a swarm of pain.  
  
"You have no idea what horror is!" he declared, and letting out a yell, transformed into a monstrous dragon with many many wings, and tails that lashed out that all that dare get too close. There were stretched mouths on his wings, shooting lasers in all directions. And his eyes remained the same.  
  
"Look out!" cried Amelia, and Zelgadis dodged neatly aside from one of the many lasers.  
  
Zelgadis rolled, and then got to his feet. "I'm not going to stand by and suffer any longer. Amelia! Cast it!" Amelia nodded.  
  
"RA TILT!" they yelled together, causing the earth to explode in lights beneath their enemy. One of the tails merely swiped at the blast, casting it back into the ground, creating a crater that helped nothing.  
  
Xellos teleported up into the air, throwing millions of sharp cones down to try and penetrate the Dark Brilliance's shield. It didn't even have to defend; they did nothing.  
  
"Ah, trying to hurt me with such a pathetic attack?" the Dark Brilliance asked. He cocked his head in Xellos's direction, and at once his shields reflected the blasts, sending Xellos teleporting for cover as they doubled back on him.  
  
The Ancient Dragons tried attacking with the same tactics as the Golden Dragons, but even their superior power was no match. Their Laser Breaths created huge craters everywhere as the Dark Brilliance reflected them. And more simply got killed and absorbed.  
  
"Stop it!" cried Sylphiel. "I won't let you destroy more lives!" She cast an improved Dragon Slave that she'd been practicing on into Gourry's waiting Sword of Light, and the swordsman swung with all his might so that the blast raced toward the Dark Brilliance.  
  
Come on, Lina, thought Gourry. We're not going to hold out at this rate. You've always come through before.  
  
The Dark Brilliance was completely incinerated by the Dragon Slave, and dark blood continued to drip everywhere as he formed himself back together again.  
  
"Hhhhhhh- HYAH!" thundered Gaav as he fired a colossal energy blast at the Dark Brilliance.  
  
"Dodge this!" challenged Phibrizzo as he threw down an even larger ball of Hellfire from above.   
  
The Dark Brilliance decided that he wouldn't play games this time. "What devastating attacks..." he said sarcastically, and then caught both huge balls of energy with his hands, and then combined them. "Catch!" he said, throwing it at Phibrizzo with unbelieveable speed.  
  
Hellmaster didn't stand a chance to dodge it; the blast hit him head on, and he fell to the ground like a wounded bird. He was still barely alive... he couldn't even maintain his child's form in the Slayers world any longer. L-sama hit him with healing, and Phibrizzo charged towards the Dark Brilliance with more attacks once more.  
  
The battle didn't look as hopeless as it did before. Although no attacks were doing any visible damage to the enemy, there were just so many people that it seemed there was a chance...  
  
Obviously, most everyone wanted to remain attacking from a distance. They knew that if they got anywhere close, they would most probably be killed. The overall strategy was just to fire as many attacks from a distance as they could, and perhaps that would be enough to overwhelm the opponent.  
  
None of the main gods or demons had attacked yet; L-sama had not wanted them to. They were the trump card, to be used to channel power and fire a final attack if all else failed. For now, she would just let things play out as they were, and see if she could spot an extent to the Dark Brilliance's power.  
  
Valgaav began firing energy too, each one a symbol of the rage of the Ancient Dragons, each one a symbol of the ferocity of the mozaku race. They shot holes through the Dark Brilliance, but the holes merely sealed back up with more chaos.  
  
The sky was long gone. The earth was long gone. The air was long gone. The land they were on had turned to darkness entirely, and one didn't know for sure where one ended and the other began. They only knew to fight, and that's what they did. Continuously, again and again, but to no avail.  
  
"I'm not going to let your creations attack me freely for much longer, you know," a bored Dark Brilliance said to the Lord of Nightmares, who was watching the battle from above. "And when I strike back, you and all of creation will lose. Inevitably." His aura deepened.  
  
Everyone was fighting now. Lina called upon her talismans and fired one huge spell after another. Zanifar reared back its heads and let loose a barrage on the Dark Brilliance. Kanzel and Mazenda did their share by attacking fiercely as well. The Overworlders used their own type of immensely powerful attacks to try to turn the tide of battle. Zangulus attacked with his Howling Sword, and Martina attacked with her own energy sword, which she'd been training with. Even the odd, impossible-to-describe creatures from the worlds of Death Fog and Chaotic Blue attacked in their own way; they were of a different kind of existence, just like the Overworlders, and so their attacks were strange and indescribable to the people of the Slayers world.  
  
They fought for a long time. But nothing worked. The Dark Brilliance laughed at their futile attempts, laughed at how much weaker the Lord of Nightmares was than him.  
  
So the forces of the rightful chaos decided to go for their final chance.  
  
"Lina Inverse!" the Lord of Nightmares called. Lina met up with the Mother of All Things, awaiting her instructions.  
  
"We're all going to get killed at this rate!" Lina gasped in fear.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares looked at Lina with her calm, placent eyes. "That is why I have chosen you to receive."  
  
"Receive what?"  
  
"The secrets of the Four Worlds."  
  
With that, L-sama touched Lina's forehead with one hand, and all of a sudden Lina felt a huge jolt of information and power. She suddenly knew things she would've had no hope of knowing before. She felt things that could not be of this earth. She knew spells. New spells and new techniques. Techniques that wouldn't even need spells...  
  
"Aah!" Lina cried out, as the information suddenly stopped. "What... what was that?" she asked.  
  
"Those were the ancient spells and powers that you now possess. They comprise of every elemental, of every type of magic, of every type of attack. They were created from all four of these worlds, the products of many thousands of years. And now you understand them all. You can understand all of the extents of spells and physical attacks, even from the worlds that you knew barely anything about. You, Lina Inverse, will be the final hope if all else fails."  
  
Lina blinked. "But... but why me, of all of your creations? I'm not the strongest. It should rightfully be that of a powerful god, or even a powerful demon..."  
  
L-sama looked back without a flash of concern. "Because you are unique," she stated simply. Her aura flared up, and she charged with all her might at the Dark Brilliance.  
  
Golden weapons and energy blasts launched themselves at the horrible enemy from the aura of L-sama, and she herself charged at her foe, even as blasts from her creations all over ravaged the air around her. Using hand motions, she moved the very air, slicing the Dark Brilliance into a billion pieces in a devastating attack. And the pieces crumbled to dust as the energy blasts incinerated them once again.  
  
But even before any guesses could be made, fine powder and running blood began to shape back together. The first thing that came together was a horrible arm, and it grabbed the Lord of Nightmares by the neck with sudden force. L-sama remained calm. "You still don't see that you can never win against my chaos?" the Dark Brilliance asked, as his mouth formed together. "Give up. And perhaps your creations' souls will not suffer as much when they are locked inside of me for eternity."  
  
The Lord of Nightmares looked straight at Lina. "Now," she said.  
  
Lina suddenly understood. The Lord of Nightmares and all her creations would try one final ultimate attack, and she, a mere human, would be the one to lead it. It was her leadership that would decide whether or not their universe survived or was torn into oblivion by darkness. They would use the Darkstar weapons.  
  
"Sirius! Erulogos! Overworlders!" she called, catching their attention. "We will need the Darkstar weapons for our final attempt at victory!"  
  
"Lina, what are you doing?" Gourry asked, edging closer to her.  
  
"WE are going to win," Lina replied, her eyes set in determination once more.  
  
Gourry held up his Sword of Light. "Then I guess I might finally be of some help," he said, getting himself ready.  
  
The Overworlders hung onto their weapons, so Gourry went to stand beside them.  
  
All the rest of the army readied themselves for their final attack, and the eight demons and gods also steeled themselves for their first attacks.   
  
The darkness they were surrounded by warped into chaos, and screams of tortured souls ripped through the air. The Dark Brilliance began powering up, and waves of despair washed over the Slayers and their allies. The Lord of Nightmares also began charging up to maximum, and the golden light washed over them and made them stronger.  
  
It BEGAN.  
  
"Darkness beyond deepest hell," Lina chanted, causing red lightning to flash, connecting sky and earth. The mozaku, including the four demons, let out furious yells, creating an unbelieveable surge of power that whipped through the air to hover atop the Darkstar weapons.  
  
"Brilliance beyond the purest heaven." With a flash of healing light, the gods, dragons, priests, and priestesses summoned all of their power, causing a wave of tranquility that somehow held the same deadly force that the darkness had.  
  
"Lord of All that kills and loves." The two powers began circling each other atop the interlinked Darkstar weapons. The energy crackled with the force of ten thousand nuclear explosions. They combined.  
  
"Atop this Perfect Sea of Chaos, glowing with power beyond wrath of omnipotence." The titanic amounts of light and dark energy began circling higher and higher, growing and growing atop the Darkstar weapons until shapes were formed. Elegant dragons chased each other, gods and demons fought battles that never ended, black and white co-existed in balance that never ceased.  
  
"I swear myself to thee." Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Xellos looked at each other. They had come a long way together. They nodded at each other as they charged up for their most powerful attacks. They knew that if anyone had a way to win this evil over, this horrible creature so complete with darkness that even speaking, walking, breathing was a torture, it was Lina. It always had been.  
  
"Pledge my very soul to thee." The blue energy in the Darkstar weapons began to glow black, red, and white simultaneously, and the incredible energy from the army flowed into them.  
  
"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by this river of rightful chaos!!!!" Lina yelled, finishing the spell. "Let this single arrow pierce the being that wrongly walks this earth! HYAH!" Lina fired her essence and knowledge toward the Darkstar weapons, and the attack began to launch.  
  
The energy from the other four Darkstar weapons flowed with immeasuable power towards the Final Weapon, the bow. The Overworlder let out a mighty roar, and then let loose the arrow. The other four weapons' attacks were fired, and all the other attacks that were being charged were let loose. The arrow of chaos absorbed all of this, concentrated everything that the Four Worlds had. Shabranigdo, Ceipheed, and the rest of the Oldest creations flared up all of their power, and the arrow swelled.  
  
The darkness was so powerful it was defeaning, and yet the power of the gods illuminated the hope of all as the perfect arrow ripped swiftly through the air at the Dark Brilliance. Right where the creature's heart should be.....  
  
"HA!" the Lord of Nightmares yelled, flaring up all of her power. The arrow almost seemed to have exploded with golden radiance. The full power of the Lord of Nightmares swelled up inside it, blending with the chaos. It was so powerful it was a miracle that it could remain in an arrow form; it absorbed the power from the very air around it. The fate of the gods and the demons hung in that one weapon.  
  
The Dark Brilliance looked at the arrow with surprise. Even he could tell that it was far, far more powerful than anything he'd tried to defend himself against so far.  
  
The arrow sped up so fast it couldn't be seen, and...  
  
It impaled itself perfectly through the Dark Brilliance. The incredible energy ignited, and the disgusting creature was completely engulfed by raw power. Following was an unbelieveable explosion, throwing everyone back in an uncontrollable force. Dragons' screams of pain filled the air as the souls that the Dark Brilliance had absorbed also felt the terrible pain.  
  
Lina shielded herself against the wind that was blowing everywhere as a result of the explosion. So much pain... It was all going to be ended, once and for all. She could tell that the Dark Brilliance hadn't expected an attack of that magnitude. Perhaps it had caught him off guard enough to have completely destroyed him.  
  
The others steeled themselves against the wind, watching the sky. The darkness... it was starting to lift a little... they could almost see the blue of the sky.  
  
"Finally, I can go back to my simple search for a cure," whispered Zelgadis, not wanting to see Rezo ever again after this.  
  
Xellos's eyes opened wide for, for the first time, relief. He had never felt such destruction before. Also, he wondered what was going to happen to him now. One of the goals of the mozaku race had been to revive Shabranigdo, but all of the Dark Lord was already revived. Everyone was revived. Did it really make any sense to easily destroy the world now? After they'd just saved it.... Also, the Golden Lord surely would stop them once again. Or maybe....  
  
BOOM. The sky suddenly caved in on itself, enveloped by darkness once more. Chaos ran in intricate patterns everywhere, drawn in apparently blood. From the distance, a figure trudged back from the shadows.. And before anyone could blink, the Dark Brilliance was back again.  
  
He laughed at them, laughed and laughed. It made even Luna's blood run cold, and the gods and demons nearly completely collapsed in despair. "A very good attack, for weaklings such as yourselves. I suppose you thought that would've killed me. And I also suppose you weren't paying attention when I said I could not be killed. I have no body to kill, you pathetic fools." He snapped his fingers, and the unbearable pain started anew, now torturing many instead of few.  
  
And worse yet, the Lord of Nightmares looked withered, gone. She had been defeated, and there was nothing left to do.... the Dark Brilliance had won.  
  
He chuckled, and anyone looking into his eyes would have gone insane, the cruelty and emptiness had intensified with more and more growing confidence. And the souls still strove uselessly to get out. For inside the Dark Brilliance was torture beyond reckoning.  
  
A cape descended from the Dark Brilliance's shoulders, a cape made of blood. It grew and grew, and soon all could see the screaming faces embedded in the blood; one was Filia's, and her wailing went on and on. The blood dripped down to the ground, spattering the darkness with patches of red. Like a painting of death.  
  
"Well, since you're all done," the Dark Brilliance continued, a horrible smirk on his face. "Then now it's my turn!"  
  
He blinked, and Luna suddenly let out a yell; her body burned up in black flames, and her soul was wrenched from her body. He waved a hand, and the Demon Dragon King suddenly got a huge gash across his chest, causing him to collapse to the ground and become absorbed as well. He made a flicking motion with two fingers and two Overworlders' hearts stopped.  
  
And as his power grew, that's when the massacre began. 


	10. Life Is Death

The Dark Brilliance  
  
Chapter 9: Life Is Death  
  
"The pain, the killing... As I watched the blood form into a river, and then a sea, life lost meaning for me. And then I only saw black."  
  
"Luna!" Lina cried out. It was not until that point, that crucial moment that she saw the life leave her sister's eyes, that she realized what an important part of her life Luna had been. Certainly, she had been scary. Powerful. Controlling. But she was always there... not like now....  
  
The Dark Brilliance let out a roar, and then transformed into a dragon of horrible power, utlizing the powers of the Demon Dragon King. He flared up the power of the Golden and Ancient Dragons, and concentrated the might of the Knight of Ceipheed. Even with the two Overworlders he'd absorbed, he had already begun to shine with some odd aura that didn't belong in the Slayers world.  
  
The Lord of Nightmares was a shell of her former self. She had clearly given up hope now, as well. At last, the battle looked lost. And the darkness inevitable.  
  
"Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia called, her voice trembling as she caught up with him. "I... I want to stick together now... I- If this really is the end..... I'd like to spend it with you..."  
  
Despite himself, Zelgadis blushed, something he rarely, if ever, does. He drew his sword, not knowing what it could be used for, but just wanting to have something to GRASP. In this dire situation... "I'd like that," he stated simply, regaining control. The two of them, as they ran away, away from everything and everybody, kept close. As everything died around them, they stayed together; it was the only thing to do.  
  
As the armies scattered, helpless of what they could do, darkness began to engulf them, so that they appeared lost in swirling mists. Chaos. It streamed around them, the living wrath of the Dark Brilliance, and induced fear and terror wherever it spread.  
  
Lina looked at the monster with absolute disbelief. They'd lost... So totally lost... They'd thrown all of the power of the Lord of Nightmares at the creature and still they'd been humiliated utterly and completely... Was it really true, that the Dark Brilliance had no body? Then it truly was impossible...  
  
She let out a surprised gasp as someone put a hand on her shoulder. But she knew who it was. "Gourry..." she whispered, looking up at him. After so long, he was still just as supportive as ever.  
  
Gourry looked back, his Sword of Light still drawn, shining in the darkness like a beacon of... of what? A beacon, perhaps, signalling the heavens to pity them. To reverse the situation and bring some hope back... "Lina, I told you when I first met you that I would be your protector... I still am, and now's as good a time as any to keep on going."  
  
Lina blushed at Gourry's unusual display of intelligence, and at his words, but let out a startled squawk when Gourry suddenly picked her up, holding her in the traditional rescuing-princess fashion. It was so much like the old days, such a simple gesture and yet so serious, that she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Stop, you're embarrassing me. Put me down," Lina whispered, not really meaning it.  
  
Gourry smiled at her. "No way. You can't walk by yourself in this condition. I'll carry you..." And so they were together too, in the darkness...  
  
Xellos teleported straight to his master, and for once Zelas looked like she was in a state of total shock as well. "Zelas-sama!" he gasped, trying to grab a hold of himself despite all that was happening. "What... What should we do?"  
  
Zelas shakily lit a cigarette, taking a long drag on it. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, and even a little raspy. The pride of Wolf Pack Island had died when the arrow of hope had died. "It's over... Do as you wish..."  
  
At these words, Xellos nearly died as well. He had always been commanded what to do. Even in the most extreme, hopeless situations, he had been given orders. And he ALWAYS carried them out, no matter how hard the orders were. But now... With Filia dead, with everyone dying, with the enemy far more powerful than anything he could imagine... His coolness gone, his secrets gone, his personality gone. Everything was destroyed. Xellos was broken. To the purple-haired mozaku, it didn't even register when his master was killed by the Dark Brilliance.  
  
The monster chuckled as the tiny pinprick of energy pierced Beastmaster, and her soul came fluttering back into him. He utilized a new power, and his grotesque dragon and demon self morphed again, accomodating the new dark wolf that had merged with his power. The red cape that had been growing before broke off his shoulders, flying through the air and proudly displaying the tortured souls of all that he'd destroyed, and the blood flowed back into him, strengthening him beyond belief.  
  
"Well, it would certainly be a bother to go about simply blowing up worlds or lands, wouldn't it?" he asked in a booming voice, mostly to himself. "Perhaps I should absorb someone that will allow me to kill in a much more delightful manner..." His evil smile made some of the air around him turn to ice.  
  
His gaze zoomed to Phibrizzo, who was starting to become hysterical again, mostly because he'd been so easily defeated twice now... and that he would end up dying once more at the hands of someone he had no control over... "Ah, Hellmaster," the Dark Brilliance chuckled. "You will do..."  
  
Everyone down below was still dissipating, struggling to find cover, but they all turned to watch as the Dark Brilliance made a "come here" gesture with his finger. Phibrizzo's eyes suddenly widened with fear, and he made choking noises as it looked like he was dragged up into the air beside the Dark Brilliance with a noose. "Now, you love killing, don't you?" the creature asked, gazing at Hellmaster with his beyond-hell eyes. Phibrizzo continued to gasp and choke, unable to say anything. "Well, you'll be getting a lovely taste of it soon." Endlessly, the Dark Brilliance's cruelty and ruthlessness entered Phibrizzo's soul, torturing it to the like of its tormentor. The monster's eyes flared, and Phibrizzo let out a heart-wrenching shriek, his mozaku body blown apart from the inside.  
  
The Dark Brilliance's eyes flashed again, and the pieces of Phibrizzo were absorbed, along with his dark soul. He laughed, the horrible grotesque form hovering in the air. As the people on the ground looked in horror, he held out one of his many death-like hands, and in them appeared soul orbs. But black ones, stained with the purest, purest evil. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" the Dark Brilliance laughed out loud in triumph. "Now you get to see your creations murdered one by one, 'Mother'. So much for being the most mighty in the universe!" The Lord of Nightmares couldn't say anything... her golden radiance had diminished manyfold, and she merely stood on the ground with a defeated look on her face. It almost looked like the normal Kyra was back again...  
  
Some of the beings from the other two worlds were slain by a sudden burst of the Dark Brilliance's power, and the monster absorbed their souls greedily. His bizarre form morphed still further with the beings' addition, sprouting new extensions and altercations indescribable in comparison to humans. But they were obviously demi-versions as well, for now the horror that he spread was understood equally by all of the beings on the blood-stained battlefield.  
  
Ceipheed, Shabranigdo, and the other gods and demons didn't know what to do anymore. Being the original creations by the Lord of Nightmares, they had the most allegiance under her, and so didn't possess much independence on their own. Since the Mother of All Things was now withered, and the fighting between the gods and demons had been rendered obsolete, there seemed to be nothing left for them to do except to watch and wait...  
  
One of the odd luminescent creatures from the world of Chaotic Blue suddenly let out a horrible shrieking/squawking sound, taking off into the air via some type of odd glowing extension in presumably a fit of rage. Several others followed it, and they all communicated by flashing lights into the air via another protrusion, letting out sounds to emphasize their point. They fired many projectile attacks at the Dark Brilliance also with their mouths, and some of them were presumably casting spells, judging by the slightly larger aura around them before they fired something else. The blasts were all absorbed, and the Dark Brilliance killed them all by making a bored motion with his fingers. They let out terrible yells, and then plummeted to the ground, their souls meanwhile entering the enemy's being and strengthening him still more. All killed except for one. The original creature that had started the attack.  
  
"Ah, what an excellent opportunity for me to demonstrate the fun we're going to have from now on," the Dark Brilliance chuckled. "No doubt many of you have noticed that I've been letting you off pretty easy, for a creature as 'evil' as myself." He laughed. "I'm destroying you with a simple explosion, or getting you caught in a ray, or something similar, resulting in a quick, albeit perhaps painful, death. But that won't do for someone of my caliber, would it? No, it's time for you all to get a taste of your inevitable fate."  
  
With that, the Dark Brilliance suddenly morphed, concentrating his energy into a dark humanoid form, and the evil suddenly intensified to the point that it was almost a solid, living entity. The terrified creature let out more sounds and colors of alarm, but the monster paid it no heed. Souls that had been taken circled around the two, screaming in agony, and begging to be let free. The Dark Brilliance's endless eyes suddenly flashed a brilliant pure red, and his mouth opened much further than possible, showing teeth that weren't teeth, disgusting protrusions plastered everywhere made from the excess pain absorbed. He reached out a horrible hand that pulsed with perfection. Even on his skin, there were faces and heads and bodies, their faint outlines arranged in nightmarish screaming postures, moving and wriggling, shrieking with absolute anguish. He removed something from atop his head, revealed to be a dark hood that had apparently once been part of his head. The hood fell back, and dead hair the color of chaos wrapped around the creature from the world of Chaotic Blue. They squeezed various parts of it, and the creature's sounds got considerably louder. It wriggled and squirmed in a vain attempt to get free. The Dark Brilliance stabbed through the creature with his hand, laughing as blood streamed down out of the resulting wound. "You only die when I decide you've had enough!!" he declared, evil dripping with every syllable. Everyone else down below was frozen, watching with dread beyond dread, especially the others from Chaotic Blue's world, since they understood exactly what they were seeing. Even those from the other worlds, however, could guess how painful it was, regardless.  
  
There was a horrible snapping sound as one of the Dark Brilliance's strands of hair grabbed hold of one of the extensions and pulled with a sudden ferocity. The creature let out the loudest shriek yet, but stopped squirming as much, not being able to move with the pain. The Dark Brilliance laughed and laughed, and shouted to the battlefield, "Do you see what happens to those who oppose me?! Submit yourselves quietly, and perhaps your torture will be a little less painful!" Each strand of hair suddenly turned on the creature, stabbing through every spot, and the Dark Brilliance opened his mouth wide. The creature let out an earth-shattering screech of pure torture, and then the "teeth" snapped it in half, blood running down into the being of the Dark Brilliance as the soul was added to the creature's collection. "Wonderful..." the Dark Brilliance gasped, his power growing a surprising amount. "The more negative emotions, the more pain and terror and helplessness; that's what strengthens me." He flared up his power further, and he transformed back into the bizarre mix of parts that he'd been before. His form was his to choose, and chaos swarmed around him, ready to add to his power if he so chose.  
  
Gourry sprinted as fast as he could from the battlefield, still holding Lina, who had went into a state of total shock. "I... can't... believe.. it..." he gasped out loud, to himself. "I..." Even someone as dense as Gourry knew exactly what had just happened, and his mind couldn't erase the images. The screaming. The pain. And it wasn't even someone from their world. He didn't want to see any more of it... Lina shouldn't see any more of it...  
  
Amelia had fainted when the creature had been seemingly eaten by the Dark Brilliance, a  
  
"hair" impaling every spot on its body. Zelgadis had picked her up too, now, and was trying to find a safe place for cover. Damn it all to hell! he thought miserably. This creature... its evil is beyond imagination... It's... this situation is completely different from any other battle. We're all going to die... NO! Zelgadis's eyes flared up with determination from an unforeseen source. We're not all going to die... Amelia won't die... I won't let it happen...  
  
"Now, for these," the Dark Brilliance continued, as if nothing had happened, juggling a couple of the dark soul orbs with one hand. "I wonder who I should kill first... Those of you who think your deaths will be as easy as those done by that coward Hellmaster are thoroughly mistaken. My Chaos Orbs won't simply kill you, you realize..." He let out another dark chuckle. "No, it will be pain beyond imagination... Still, be thankful if you are killed by these... Those who survive to the round afterward will wish that they'd killed themselves a lot sooner!"  
  
Martina and Zangulus held each other closely. It was almost eerie how history seemed to repeat itself; they were again trapped in a helpless, hopeless situation. Only this time, they were not in danger from simply a great force, but a great evil force. Zangulus smiled weakly, yet somehow he still gave Martina confidence. "Let's pray to Zoamelgustar together," he whispered.  
  
Martina managed a smile as well, and agreed. She remembered their previous serious battle so long ago. She remembered how they had prayed. And now they both still held hope. To the very end.  
  
One of the black soul orbs lifted up higher than the other ones, spinning uncontrollably and throbbing with a strange, hidden power. It was lifted up by the Dark Brilliance's other solid hand. "Let's see who will die first..." he chuckled. The endless masses below seemed to hold their breath as one, each trembling in their own way. The evil being held the orb between two fingers without compassion. His grotesque mouth and endlessly hollow twin pools of hell called eyes loomed over the crowds with a sense of impending doom. He smiled. Such a cruel smile.  
  
The soul orb shattered into bits between his fingers, the pieces like beacons in the darkness, glistening and shining with awful power. Dynast suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream, then began to shriek and convulse uncontrollably. His limbs swung around wildly, and demons and gods alike were horrified by the Dark Lord's behavior. He screamed and screamed, his body undergoing inexplicable pain. Suddenly, he choked, blood gushed out of his mouth, his eyes clouded over, and Dynast died. He slumped to the ground, and then was still. Completely still.  
  
The Dark Brilliance savored the pain as the soul washed into him. Parts of his disgusting body froze over with steely ice, adding a sharper look to the looming horror. His darkness got just a bit more defined. He looked with satisfaction at the dark orbs that he still juggled in his other hand.  
  
Dead silence. And then total pandemonium. Lina and Amelia regained control of themselves, but they continued to let themselves be held. They didn't see what had happened, but they knew that the situation had grown even worse.  
  
Evil laughter washed over the land, echoeing endlessly. A new stage of the battle had begun - the desperate, hopeless stage. The Dark Brilliance reveled in the turmoil, the chaos, and the pain. He killed with wild joy now, holding back none of his dark ambitions. He brought out soul orbs by the handful, breaking them with his many bizarre extensions. And as had been predicted: Many died. Many, many died.  
  
Dolphin broke out in wracked screams of torture as her body was torn apart. The Fire Dragon King roared his last as he was ruthlessly destroyed. Sylphiel couldn't stop shrieking for Gourry, but Gourry wasn't there to hear her... Everyone, everything.... was dying... The Overworlders died in undescribable anguish. The creatures from the other two worlds... they were ripped to shreds in a flurry of agony.  
  
The Dark Brilliance was at the center of the killing, his evil darkening the black air around him even further. The orbs' shards rained down through the darkness as he howled with laughter. His form kept rippling and shifting, changing and shaping into more and more unbelieveable ways. And the masses below kept running in vain, for the Dark Brilliance was everywhere, and his chaotic orbs spun madly in his many hands. With every flap of his endless wings, the very depths of space and time quivered for a moment, the sky cut open like a gaping fish, and streams of black blood falling into the chaos below...  
  
Lina couldn't take it anymore. The absolute victory that the Dark Brilliance was commanding. But for some strange reason, she felt not afraid at all. As if there was something important she was forgetting that would aid them. Something big. But what was it.......?  
  
Gourry was still running, away from the huge mass of evil above them. But he knew that no matter how far he ran with Lina in his arms, nothing would change. He could truly protect her from nothing.... And he knew that distance held no value with the Dark Brilliance's power. Suddenly, Lina moved in his arms. She was conscious and awake, and wanted to be put down. He reluctantly obeyed her command.  
  
"Gourry, I feel in my heart that there's still one last chance. I feel that it's not time to give up yet."  
  
"But Lina... this battle looks done. I may not know a lot about monsters, but Gaav and Phibrizzo were killed just like that. And that uh... Kyra was destroyed, too."  
  
"Kyra was the Lord of Nightmares. And the Mother of All Things would not die quite so easily, I believe. She could even have absorbed all of us to fight this evil, but instead she wanted me to channel her with the Giga Slave. She made us fire that final attack, which wouldn't have been quite as effective as if she had fought the evil one-on-one. I still think there must be some other way to win."  
  
"All right, Lina. I believe in you."  
  
Before the two knew what was happening, they stumbled into two others in the darkness. Amelia and Zelgadis were both running as well, by now, and they let out sighs of relief when they saw each other.  
  
Each was so serious, so stern. They had lost all their innocence. Their exploits with even Valgaav were left far behind in the past. They had been altered forever by trauma. Never to be back again. But they still wanted to live. As with Valgaav, they didn't want to give up their humanity.  
  
Zelgadis sighed. "I realize now what I should have realized long ago..... What would have spared me a lot of dead ends and countless frustrations...... There is no cure. There never will be. Rezo probably specifically formulated that spell so that there would be no counter-curse. And maybe he even did it to teach me a lesson or something. All the hate that I've felt toward him all these years has held back something in me, and that was his goal all alone. The cure won't be something solid that I will find. This 'cure' is what I had to realize - that I can live with who I am." He bowed his head a little, and then turned to look at Amelia, his words hovering in the air. He smiled one of his rare sincere smiles.  
  
"Oh, Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia cried, genuine tears in her eyes as she hugged him. Zelgadis flinched a little from surprise, but then returned the gesture warmly. The princess shed tears of both joy and sorrow at how Zelgadis had finally settled down, and how the situation looked like it would change nothing. And Zelgadis held on to Amelia dearly; his stony emotions were over and done with.  
  
The union brought faint smiles to both Lina and Gourry, and they briefly embraced their last as well. They both suddenly realized how important that gesture may be - it might never happen again.  
  
"We're still going to fight to the end!" Lina pumped her fist, displaying false strength.  
  
Zelgadis grinned. "You never change, do you, Lina?"  
  
Lina, Amelia, and Zelgadis all cast barriers over the four of them, and Gourry drew his Sword of Light again, for lack of anything beter to do. They had come a long way, and they wished to continue going. The loss of Filia had been devastating to them, but they were the original four that had kept going from the beginning. They would try one last time.  
  
The original four... "Wait a second," spoke up Gourry. "Where's Xellos?"  
  
Lina sadly shook her head, ironically in the same gesture Xellos had when she had been taken over by the Lord of Nightmares. "He's gone."  
  
Almost everyone was dead, now. The huge armies that had came forth had been completely annihalated. Stragglers of each race dutifully continued to retreat, but those who finally fell from exhaustion were probably killed with the soul orbs, and then absorbed. Martina and Zangulus had been long killed, but their love had kept their pain from torturing them, even as their souls flew back to eternal hell. The souls kept feeding the Dark Brilliance, and the bodies kept plastering onto him, feeding the original chaotic source.  
  
He laughed ruthlessly. "Don't think you creatures are any different!" he called as his gaze drifted over the eight gods and demons who still dumbly stood rooted to place. With the blink of one of his many eyes, his now much stronger power incinerated Darkstar, and the demon's absolutely colossal body was torn apart, and slashed many times with light. The monster roared in the way only a pure demon can roar, and then his anguish was put to a stop after an excruciating death. The power of the Dark Brilliance swelled even further as this entity was added, and he couldn't help cackling with glee as the new power rushed over him. "More..." he breathed, black blood dribbling down his chin. With a huge blast of wind from a titanic wing, the other gods and demons were awash in commotion, and then seven dark orbs were crushed simultaneously by another extension. They roared and shrieked in the most holy and demonic ways, but nonetheless, the result was the same. The Oldest had finally all been destroyed. Their powers were added to the Dark Brilliance. The terror was complete.  
  
With the sudden addition of these seven souls, the Dark Brilliance felt a great surge of... not power... but togetherness. And he realized that his impossible form now held no purpose for all of this raw strength. It was unwieldy and large. It had to be concentrated in the most chaotic way possible. A form of balance.  
  
With an infinite unholy wail of triumph that reverberated around the air itself, the looming dismal form of the Dark Brilliance folded upon itself like paper being rolled into a ball for a much stronger form. His wings, his eyes, his souls, they combined and connected and warped in the most erratic fashions. Dark and light exploded out of him like Furies, and the remaining creatures were blinded from every angle. Space itself pulsed and rearranged itself to accomodate the terrible new transformation. The wailing went on and on, the screams of souls streaked the air...  
  
All of a sudden, to the horror of all, a HAND huge beyond imagination reached out of the swirling chaos toward the one being who would ensure their loss - The Lord of Nightmares. Golden light faded, majesty gone, she stared without seeing, stood without feeling. There was no radiance. There was no reaction when the hand enveloped her completely, and then the Mother of All Things was absorbed by the one thing that she had not been a Mother to - Evil itself.  
  
There was a tremendously ghastly pulsation that caused everyone to fall to their knees, and the land erupted in dangerous patterns everywhere. The Slayers only watched. It was all they could do. But they knew that the addition of the Lord of Nightmares to the Dark Brilliance's power would terminate many chances. Then there was a sucking sound as the Dark Brilliance's form turned into a vacuum, doubling upon himself. The huge pieces and souls flew in, in a powerful flash of strength.  
  
The howling grew to the point that the creatures below had to hold their ears in pain. The noise intensified further. Black, red, white, and gold swirled. The vacuum grew in size. The Dark Brilliance was almost gone inside himself. And then...  
  
Silence beyond any silence. So silent the presence of it pounded against one's skull. Then there was a great explosion, and the Dark Brilliance was there again. Oh, how he looked now. He was of humanoid form again, his entire body simply a dark golden entity. Power emanated from him with driving force. He looked up. His face was grotesque no longer. His eyes were as hollow and emotionless as a skull's. One could see screaming souls inside if one looked enough. His mouth was drawn in a perfect straight line. The most perfect being in all of existence. And yet so wrong...  
  
He spoke not at all. The creatures were rendered immobile with fear. He held no dark soul orbs. He had limbs as only a human had, if you could call them limbs. They were too dark to make out. His face betraying nothing, he held out the pointer of his right hand. He bent it in a random gesture.  
  
Pure wrath. At once, the dark battlefield below turned into the living embodiement of hell. Enormous pools of red appeared on the ground, and scaly arms as big as the tallest mountains erupted out of the ground, making many creatures die of fright on the spot. The impossibly large hands stabbed through many hundreds at a time with their nails. Souls and more souls shot back to the waiting form of evil in the sky. Golden light bathed them and then trapped them forever inside him. Dark creatures looking perfect like the Dark Brilliance walked through the dead land, killing creatures using the most unimaginable torture possible. Xellos had lost it. When he was absorbed by a pool of red, he didn't flinch. He merely died.  
  
Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis had broken out of their shield the second the eruptions had started. Everything was chaotic in its totality. "Ra Tilt!" yelled Zelgadis and Amelia together, firing their blast at one of the dark creatures. To their horror, the blast went right through the creatures, and though the explosions completely enveloped their foes, the things just kept walking towards them as if nothing at all had happened.  
  
Amelia let out a cry, firing a holy purifying spell at one of the creatures. That, too, went right through with no effect. It was as if the creatures were of a completely different dimension. "They.. they're like the Dark Brilliance. They have no body," Lina whispered. "I guess... I guess he's taken that term to the next level."  
  
"Damn him!" Zelgadis cursed, as the four of them were forced to fly elsewhere for cover, dodging the horrendous obstacles on the way.  
  
"Is it over?" Gourry asked.  
  
"There must be one more way."  
  
The Dark Brilliance had killed everyone except for the Slayers with this final maneuver. What had once been huge armies had been reduced to tiny armies, then to stragglers, and then to nothing. No one was a match for the dark creatures or the gigantic arms. The monsters had dared to challenge the beings of pure evil, and when nothing worked, they were killed. The gods had attacked the beings, and even the mountain arms from the pits of hell, with their holy attacks, but of course, nothing worked. They were dumbfounded, and killed in their confusion. The dragons flew pointlessly, aimlessly. They were smashed to bits by their foes. The Overworlders attacked with their complex weapons and tactics, but their bodies were broken by the dark beings as well. The humans were helpless; everyone was killed without the batting of an eye. The beings from the other two worlds did what strange things they could. They perished at the hands of the Dark Brilliance's living evil. They were all dead when put at the mercy of the purest abomination.  
  
The Slayers still lived. They'd always survived before. Even though they didn't know how to deal with this new loss, even though they couldn't cope with all that had died, they still lived on.  
  
The Dark Brilliance moved his finger back to its original position. The landscape abruptly returned to normal. The Slayers were plunged into darkness. The dark golden being turned its perfect gaze on the four that still survived. There was no emotion whatsoever on his face. "Now do you see?" he spoke. The sound of his voice threw the four to the ground. It took all of their strength to drag themselves back up.  
  
Lina trembled uncontrollably. It didn't register. It just didn't register. Her sister dead. Naga dead. Filia dead. Xellos dead. Sylphiel dead, Martina dead, Zangulus dead, the Overworlders dead, the unknown creatures dead, the Golden Dragons dead, the Ancient Dragons dead, the demons dead, the gods dead, the CREATOR HERSELF dead! EVERYONE WAS DEAD! Beside her, her three companions said nothing, but each knew what the others felt.  
  
"Everyone is dead?" the Dark Brilliance inquired, his eyes staring into them. "No, of course not. Only those who were summoned here. There is still much killing to do. There is everyone else on this part of your world. There is all that you know from where you came. There is this entire world to destroy. There are three other worlds to destroy. And beyond these four worlds, there is creation itself to eliminate. The perfect being will be the one to destroy everything."  
  
"But... but why?" Amelia choked out. She didn't see what the purpose was.  
  
The Dark Brilliance smiled then, his first smile in his new form, and his black teeth showed in the darkness. "Because I want more strength. Because no one else deserves to live. Because the torture will feed me!"  
  
"You monster!" Gourry yelled as loud as he could into the darkness at their foe.  
  
The Dark Brilliance laughed at that. "Monster? I am far more than that..."  
  
But then Lina began to wonder something very important. The same thing she had wondered before. Had the Dark Golden Lord really been defeated? She would surely not have given up so easily. And that strange power that she'd been feeling within. The reason why she still wasn't frightened. Then, suddenly she understood.  
  
As thousands of dark soul orbs appeared out of nowhere into existence, hovering everywhere surrounding the Dark Brilliance, and souls began to scream in protest once more, Lina spoke up.  
  
She spoke in a loud, commanding voice that surprised both her comrades and her enemy. "You are a fool, Dark Brilliance!" she declared proudly. "I realize now what you do not! I realize now that what you have overlooked will be your ultimate defeat!"  
  
Everyone waited. The dark orbs glistened in the air. 


End file.
